On 12 Jul 2000, 3:07, Tim Pierce wrote:
> This is essentially true of any organization, from banks to credit
> card issuers to insurance carriers to libraries. While I do believe
> that you are not trying to single out eGroups as being worse than any
> other "dot com" in this regard, I do get the sense that you are
> implicitly singling out technology industries as less respectful than
> more traditional and boring industries.
[...]
On the contrary. We are discussing this issue within the scope and
context of the "List-Managers" mailing list. I see no purpose in
bringing in all Industries into the debate. Points are directed at
Internet and in particular, mailing list hosting services.
However, since you chose to bring it up, I will simply express my
opinion that pure e-commerce companies are less reputable than long
established corporations just by virtue of their age. It is like
comparing a misbehaving child to a mature adult. The child is more
likely to see what he can get away with.
If you went into a department store and there was a 12 year old behind
the counter, would you hand him your credit card? Even if he said to
you, "You can trust me, mister?"
> When one company buys another, it inherits their legal obligations
> and responsibilities. If a privacy statement means anything at
> all, if it has any legal weight whatever, then the larger company
> is legally obliged to honor the other's privacy policies.
But there is the point. It has no legal weight to the user because the
document is written in the host's favor. There are no protections in a
privacy statement to the user of the service. It is totally written to
protect the interests of the host.
> The only way that this could not be true is if the privacy statement
> is legally meaningless -- in which case you never had any assurance
> that eGroups would abide by its own privacy policy to begin with.
Nearly every privacy statement and TOS has a clause that states that
the document is subject to change with or without notice and the new
terms shall be in force and there is nothing you can do to object to
the change, short of leaving the service. So, Yahoo will have the
right to change the eGroups privacy and TOS documents to suit their
interests and you can bet your money they will.
As for myself, it will matter not, for I will distrust either the same.
Alan
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
