On 27/12/02 18:12 +0530, LinuxLingam claimed thus ... :
> good question sandip. my answer's in a simple rhetorical question:
> how do you know who, where, is using this 'database' of addresses and
> contacts how?
>
> often i see a few people inadvertently posting their name, full physical
> address, heck, even mobile numbers on a public mailing list such as ilug-d.
> few realize the list is also publicly archived on our website.
>
> i know we are not yet sensitized to the issue of privacy. but i feel quite
> soon privacy will become an overwhelming issue. especially in india where no
> comprehensive laws and rules exist for safeguarding an individual's privacy.
>
> thus, the apprehension.
Glad to find a common interest.Privacy issues happen to be one of my
interests too. ;)
However, if you see the member database of ILUGD as it is today, it is
publicly accessible to everybody anyway. The age-old paradoxes have
always been:
Security vs. convenience
and privacy vs. accessibility
The call here is to be made on the points:
1. Which is more important? Privacy of member personal information?
In that case the member directory has to be taken off web access
anyway.
2. Public gatherings,install fests, PR events etc. are good places to
swap disks, but the biggest demands for Linux CDs are in these
"in-between" times where you dont have many people converging at a
meet with all their CDs. The need right now is a smooth CD
distribution setup.
3. For the "in-between" times, the current model is:
a. Somebody needs a CD. He/She posts to the list. Replies are
private. Some respond. Many dont, thinking that others would do it
anyway. The person requesting is sometimes left high and dry.
b. Somebody posts to the list saying he has got such and such
CDs. Many rush towards him, sometimes covering the whole length
and breadth of Delhi, ignoring the prospect that there would
definitely be people living right next door who would be having
the same stuff.
4. The ideal,IMHO model is:
a. person wants a CD.
b. He comes to the site and searches for the nearest neighbour of
his who has the same CD.
c. In case this neighbour doesn't have a writer, he finds a
volunteer for cd-copying near his place, and proceeds to him to
get his CD copied.
d. In case one of the above is busy or not available, he finds the
next nearest person offering the same services.
e. For the search database, people throughout delhi register for
volunteering to share their CDs, writers etc.
Notice, that in all this, nobody other than the persons actually
involved have been subject to unnecessary communication. There is
no need for a separate body to co-ordinate the effort - it is self
governing.
If you feel strongly about privacy information, let there be a separate
volunteer database where people can register under any pseudonyms
with no personal data other than resource availability and
telephone/email addresses. Even if such a database is compromised, it
would give people little more information than a telephone directory
of people with interests in Linux CDs and CD-writers. GTCdrom might be
interested in such a spam database though. ;)
- Sandip
--
--------------------------------------------------------
Sandip Bhattacharya
sandipb <@> bigfoot.com
http://www.sandipb.net GPG/PGP: 0x08EB637C
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