Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!cass.ma02.bull.com!mips2!bbn.com!cosell
From: cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: *** Lotus Marketplace-style PRIVACY ALERT
Message-ID: <64584@bbn.BBN.COM>
Date: 8 Jun 91 12:52:06 GMT
References: <20164@rsiatl.Dixie.Com> <64456@bbn.BBN.COM> <4816.284e2673@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>
Sender: news@bbn.com
Distribution: na
Lines: 37

herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com writes:

}In article <64456@bbn.BBN.COM>, cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) writes:
}> 
}> In what way could you 'make sure' you are out of their databases?  I
}> can see no reason why they should be obligated to remove anything from
}> their list simply because it bugs you to be there.  

}The reason [they]
}are happy to remove names on request is
}because those names reduce the value of the mailing list...

You overlooked one word in my sentence: "obligated".  We surely agree
that a well-trimmed and well-focused list is a more valuable commodity
than is one all filled with 'circular filers'.  But that is a
*business* decision and has nothing to do with the law or with
privacy.

}> Unlike Lotus, where
}> they might CARE about consumer reaction [since they also market
}> consumer products], I see no problem with a "strictly wholesale"
}> operation not giving a sh*t if you're happy or not about it.

}Their customers care.  Therefore, they care.  Didn't Lotus offer
}the removal service in the first announcement of their proposed
}product?

Again, you slightly missed the point of my comment: there is a sense
among the righteously indignant that one can stamp ones foot, yell
"THEY CANT DO THAT TO ME", and somehow _compel_ them to remove you.
When the fact is that *IF* they acquiesce to your removal request [not
your *demand*, certainly], it is purely at their pleasure.  We might
agree that it is bad business to knowingly keep hostile entries on the
list, but that's not _our_ business decision to make.  If they tell you
to take a hike, that's _their_ decision to make, and live with.

 /Bernie\