Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!sugar!ficc!peter From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Lotus Marketplace Message-ID: Date: 21 Nov 90 22:27:06 GMT References: <5010@rsiatl.UUCP> <86447@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> <5022@rsiatl.UUCP> Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Lines: 32 In article <5022@rsiatl.UUCP> jgd@rsiatl.UUCP (John G. DeArmond) writes: > I intend it to be very harsh. In a way, the manner in which our > privacy is invaded and we are harmed by centralized databases > is more severe than if the purveyors of harm would just kill us. > It would not matter then :-) The damage personal information > databases do can follow you for a lifetime. A better solution is to make sure there are enough contradictory databases that they lose all reputability, or that there is a strong central database that you have the right to challenge. Any law such as you propose *will* be used to harass individuals and discourage dissent. > Or consider that the IRS [...] The problem here isn't the database. It's the IRS. The IRS has accumulated power far beyond what was originally allowed, and is way overdue for an audit itself. Direct your attention there... > Except that I cannot do that because despite my best efforts, some slime > has managed to get my name and telemarkets to me almost every morning. Get Caller*ID and get the telemarketer's own phone number... and return the favor. This is a red herring... most every time I've been called by one of these slimes they're just calling down the phone book or the exchange. I have two lines and they are *invariably* called in order by the same company. > We have to ask the question, If 90% of the players in a certain > activity are harming us, The burden of proof is on you to demonstrate this assertion. -- Peter da Silva. `-_-' +1 713 274 5180. 'U` peter@ferranti.com