Tim Philp writes:
On Thu, 8 Feb 1996 jamesd@echeque.com wrote:
A law "protecting" privacy would require government supervision of what is on my computer and your computer.
Private individuals are not what I was refering to. I am more concerned about corporations who hold information about me and release it to the highest bidder. When it comes to individual versus corporate rights, I am clearly on the side of the individual.
So, I take it you have no problems with me as a private individual selling information about you to the highest bidder so long as I don't file letters of incorporation? This is a silly distinction. But more to the point: The word corporate does not necessarily denote a huge company with millions of dollars in revenue, thousands of employees and stock publicly traded on the NYSE. Most "corporations" are small companies, one or two or a few employees. Every time the government-as- nanny types come up with a new law "to protect us from the evil corporations", every company big and small is saddled with additional costs and hassles. This means dollars to you and me, either directly -- because you're an owner or employee of the company -- or indirectly -- because the price of goods sold increases. Why is this so hard to grasp?
I think that it is also not unreasonable to expect that personal information that we have to release to participate in society be held in secure trust and be used only for the purposes that we released it in the first place.
Yes, it *IS* unreasonable as applied to information. If you don't want an individual or company to have information about you, don't give it to them. Pay cash for your purchases. Or make them (contractually) agree not to release the information. Sure, it may cost you extra dollars, and sometimes they may not be willing, so you'll have to take your business elsewhere or live with the realization that you're trading convenience (and other benefits) for privacy. -- Jeff