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From: wayner@CS.Cornell.EDU (Peter Wayner)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: The end of privacy... and so what comes next?
Message-ID: <1991Apr2.213730.1336@cs.cornell.edu>
Date: 2 Apr 91 21:37:30 GMT
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brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) writes:

>I disagree.   I protecting privacy means that we have "database police" who
>can enforce laws about what sort of collections of information you can have
>or sell, then we have part of a police state.


>I am not happy to have database police patrolling private citizens.   What
>I do in my own computer with correct public information about you is my
>business.

>The solutions are:
>	a) Don't give out that information in a usable way
>	b) Define the information as confidential when you do give it out

Really, most of this "treasured" information is and always has been
"legally" public. The notion of "privacy" was generally soceital. For
instance, everyone in the small town might know that "Mr. Smith" was
having a fling with "Ms. Jones", but it was not "polite" to "gossip."
Most people, though, could just figure it out by watching them in public.

In a similar way, a merchant in the small town would know that the
Doctor's wife was an excellant target for the new batch of Parisian
Perfume he just received and might make a point of mentioning this
to her. Why? Because he's seen her walking down the street in high
fashion clothes. 

Now if he used the high-tech equivalent in our global, electronic
village, the merchant would roll out the mailing lists that he 
bought from Bergdorf-Goodman's. 

I really don't see what the big deal is about the privacy of 
mailing lists. 99% of the consumption in America is "conspicuous"
in that people walking down the street (or coming over to your house
for dinner) will realize what's up. Heck, most people buy Porsche
cars solely for their bragging value. Next, the privacy people will
want to make it a crime to look at someone on the street because
you'll be "learning" some "private" fact about them. 

The real problem is when some sort of data become "forbidden" data.
Then the SS and every other police officer will be able to 
have a field day raiding computers. 



>-- 
>Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473
-- 
Peter Wayner   Department of Computer Science Cornell Univ. Ithaca, NY 14850
EMail:wayner@cs.cornell.edu    Office: 607-255-9202 or 255-1008
Home: 116 Oak Ave, Ithaca, NY 14850  Phone: 607-277-6678