At 5:37 PM -0800 4/29/97, Ulf Möller wrote:
According to the Registrar's office, anyone who is processing personal information, even as little as names and addresses received over the Internet, could find themselves facing an unlimited fine in the higher courts if they do not register with the Data Protection Registrar.
This is well known to most of us. Still, we periodically get "privacy advocates" here on this list singing the praises of the various European "data privacy laws" and urging other nations to adopt the same sorts of laws.
It is worth noting that the "Data Privacy Commissioners" in Germany (equivalent to the British Data Protection Registrar) are beginning to advocate technologies such as anonymous e-cash, pre-paid chipcards, pseudonyms, and of course encryption, rather than more laws.
This is very encouraging, if true. (Not that I doubt Ulf, but one must always be careful in considering the plans and promises of government entities.) It would be especially nice (schon, or schoen--my Mac supports umlauts, of course, but I never try to use them in ASCII posts) if Germany were to abandon its control-freak stance toward the Internet and realize that "the best cure for bad language is more language" and "sunlight is the best disinfectant." (These are both well-known sayings about free speech.) --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."