Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!cunixf.cc.columbia.edu!cs.columbia.edu!abrams From: abrams@cs.columbia.edu (Steven Abrams) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Post Office plans to sell address databases. Message-ID: Date: 17 Dec 90 04:50:07 GMT References: <12972@milton.u.washington.edu> <13017@milton.u.washington.edu> Sender: news@cs.columbia.edu (The Daily News) Distribution: comp Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science Lines: 42 In-Reply-To: cyberoid@milton.u.washington.edu's message of 14 Dec 90 21:51:33 GMT In article <13017@milton.u.washington.edu> cyberoid@milton.u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson) takes me out of context and points out that I wrote: >If a big company wants to provide this information and their >being held accountable... He then goes on to say that: No one is being held accountable for anything they put out. Why do you think they are? He does, however, forget that I wrote: >***Anti-flame clarification: This posting does NOT reflect support >for Lotus or their marketing database. I DO support legislative >steps required to protect those in "public" databases, although I'm >not sure to what extent. And I also wrote: >Proper legal steps (many of which have been discussed here) need to be >taken to make sure that all sides can benefit and be protected, but >the development of "marketing databases" was inevitable. The whole point of my posting is that there are benefits IFF appropriate steps are taken. These steps should include accountability for information. If damage is done to me due to an error in the Lotus database, that's their fault, and I'm entitled to protection against that. The willingness to leave my name in their database because I might actually enjoy junk-mail (it normally doesn't bother me that much and makes great bathroom reading :-)) does not and can not be construed as a waiver of any rights or protections that I should have. ~~~Steve -- /************************************************* * *Steven Abrams abrams@cs.columbia.edu * **************************************************/ #include #include