Privacy (was Re: Something that just crossed my mind. Sorry.)

John Pettitt jpp at software.net
Fri May 31 18:17:50 PDT 1996


At 10:01 AM 5/31/96 -0700, Sandy Sandfort wrote:
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>                       SANDY SANDFORT
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>>Two quick answers:
>
>1)      What big business wants and what it would be
>        willing to accept in order to make sales, are
>        two different things.  While demographic data
>        are nice, an more robust economy full of big
>        spenders is better.
>
>2)      Big businesses are made up of individuals.
>        Most individuals would still prefer to have 
>        their own privacy preserved even if they would 
>        prefer less privacy for others.  
>
>


I think what most people want is no surprises, by that I mean that peoples
perceptions of privacy should match reality.   In many cases that will mean
no demographics.  However there are a lot of situations where people will
trade information for something they perceive as having value.  I see
nothing wrong with this *if* there is informed consent.

John Pettitt, jpp at software.net
EVP, CyberSource Corporation, 415 473 3065

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