From: IN%"bruce@aracnet.com" "Bruce Baugh" 25-MAY-1996 09:21:06.18
I don't see that this is necessarily true for information any more than it is property. Property can be bought, sold, traded, given away, made...but it can also be stolen. Just as I have a right to complain if you walk off with my couch without my permission, so if you walk off with data on my blood chemistry or credit history without my permission.
Certainly, if you were coerced into giving up this information, it would be wrongful - including to knowingly retransmit it. But that's only the case for dealing with governments (and, I would include, other coercive groups such as monopolistic and oglipolistic corporations). You do have a choice in dealing with other entities. I make that choice; I minimize my use of a credit card, for instance. I've had months where my bill was $0.00. Now, if the agency in question is required to collect such information because of coercion, then that's wrongful, and that information shouldn't be retransmitted. -Allen