Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!abvax!iccgcc!herrickd
From: herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com (daniel lance herrick)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Citizens of the City of Mind
Message-ID: <3622.27d4c133@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>
Date: 6 Mar 91 15:15:14 GMT
References: <7259@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> <1204@airs.UUCP>
Lines: 28

In article <1204@airs.UUCP>, ian@airs.UUCP (Ian Lance Taylor) writes:
> 
> One obvious concern with Equifax is that they can distribute personal
> information without the individual's knowledge.  Usenet provides a
> means of distributing potentially damaging personal information to a
> vast number of people, but the person affected would almost certainly
> become aware of it (although the culprit would not necessarily be
> known).  

This contains an assertion about Equifax and the opposite assertion
about Usenet.  I think both are naive.

Usenet can distribute personal information about the individual
members of the Supreme Court of the United States for a long time
before those targets become aware of what is going on.  If the
target of a campaign is someone who hangs out on Usenet, then,
yes, the target will become aware quickly.  These two cases are
different.

When one of the purveyors of mailing lists distributes personal 
information, the information they distribute is a mailing address,
the person buying it paid ten cents or a dollar for the information.
The reason they spent the money was so they could make a targeted
sales pitch.  The pitch arrives soon, and the individual knows
his mailing address has been distributed.

dan herrick
herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com