[[EMAIL PROTECTED] removed from the distribution list. They claimed 
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At 11:50 AM -0500 12/8/00, Adam Shostack wrote:
>On Fri, Dec 08, 2000 at 09:07:38AM -0500, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
>|
>| At 8:30 AM -0500 on 12/8/00, BNA Highlights wrote:
>|
>|
>| > THOUGH TECHNOLOGY MIGHT HELP PRIVACY
>| > A meeting of business leaders in Redmond, Washington led to
>| > a frank debate over the insufficiency of North American
>| > action on consumer privacy and the potential for technology
>| > to play a key role in protecting such privacy.  For example,
>| > Bill Gates announced that the next version of IE would
>| > better allow consumers to ascertain Web site privacy
>| > policies.
>| > http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/08/technology/08SECU.html
>
>http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20001207/tc/forrester_exec_injects_security_summit_with_harsh_truths_1.html
>
>REDMOND, Wash. -- Just a few hours after Bill Gates opened Microsoft
>Corp.'s (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) SafeNet 2000 security summit here
>Thursday on an optimistic note, Forrester Research Inc.'s (Nasdaq:FORR
>- news) John McCarthy blew it all up.

I read the article (thanks for the URL).

Nothing new, and, in fact, several of the old chestnuts about why 
regulation is needed.

The author also mentions that consumers dislike (so?) tracking of 
their purchases...and then in the next paragraphs cites the Firestone 
tire recall as an example of better policy than most Web sites have 
(or something like this...I re-read his analogy several times and 
still wasn't sure what his claim was). But the irony of juxtaposing 
Firestone and "customers dislike tracking" is delicious indeed! It is 
the existence of customer records--generally voluntarily provided by 
the customer--that allowed Firestone and Ford to contact hundreds of 
thousands of Explorer owners.

I wonder if the author appreciates the irony here?

All of this folderol about laws being needed to control privacy must 
be fought at every stage.

--Tim May
-- 
(This .sig file has not been significantly changed since 1992. As the
election debacle unfolds, it is time to prepare a new one. Stay tuned.)

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