2) Even though I did not change my e-address, the amount of spam I got dropped to zero when I changed the mail system (from Netsacape to Apple Mail). It started to pick up after a while (2-3 months), as, with the broadband, I went to visit a lot more websites than before. But then it stayed level (5-8 spam messages a day) for quite a long time. When it *really* picked up (25-30 spam messages a day) was when the "no-call registry" went into effect in the US; the telemarketers are gonna get ya one way or another -- it's a fact of life :)
3) Privacy has always been a "in your mind only" concept... :) All sorts of personal info has, always, been available to those dedicated/clued in; KGB, FBI and all other, lesser, "info-gatherers" have always known who sneezed and when (often better than we knew ourselves <g>). There's nothing new about it, it's just easier now for a broader range of people to get access to it. Getting paranoid about it and living (mentally) in a constant state of siege is not going to change anything (except, perhaps, your medical bills, when you get an ulcer). I refuse to fill out questionnaires (even if they offer me a one-in-10-million chance for a free pop-corn popper <g>), but I do it half-heartedly, knowing it's almost futile either way.
I do get a "kick" out of "mis-cast" mailings (both e- and s-) asking me to contribute to Bush's election campaign or to Christian missionary outposts in Africa (s-mail), or (e-mail) to buy specifics which will increase my penis by 3" (myself, I do not discriminate against the less endowed, but I wouldn't want to date someone whose penis was only 3" long <g>) and make it stay up (Viagra) or down (Prozac)...
I don't care where or how they harvest my e-address -- I trash everything which has an unfamiliar originating address and/or is addressed to multiple recipients, none of whom I recognise. There are some other "barriers" which make me decide whether or not to open a message. Some -- which I'd opened either out of curiosity (a Mac has a thicker anti-virus "cushion" built in) or by mistake -- have resulted in very interesting (though not long-lasting) exchanges.
In general, I feel that my life is an open book, if a boring one. Anyone who wants to read about tension (or whatever) in BL, is more than welcome :)
----- Tamara P Duvall Lexington, Virginia, USA Formerly of Warsaw, Poland http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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