[LINK] Bruce Schneier: Privacy eroded in virtual world

[Deus Ex Machina]

Howard Lowndes [lannet at lannet.com.au] wrote:
> On Fri, 2005-02-25 at 10:49, Deus Ex Machina wrote:
> > Auer, Karl James [karl.auer at id.ethz.ch] wrote:
> > > > you are of course assuming that people are zealots about ther privacy
> > > > which is of course not the case. in regards to the potential issues
> > > > raised, most people in many circumstances couldnt care less.
> > > 
> > > The reason is a bit different, I think. There's a difference between not
> > > caring and not thinking. Informed people, who've been given a reason to
> > > think about something, will often start caring about it.
> > 
> > let me throw it back to you in a different light. why should they care?
> > putting aside the issue of theft and illegal use. why would I want to
> > prevent amazon from know my shopping habbits intimately? the more it
> > knows about what I buy the better recommendations it makes.
> > 
> > you have an implict assumption of malevelant use which in the vast
> > majority of cases is not true. thats why I dont care and the average joe
> > blo doesnt care. nor should they.
> 
> The fact is that malevolence does exist in business.  I used to use
> Joker.com as a domain registrar until their client list was opened up to
> the world.  Now I just get spam to the specific email address I used for
> them, and I no longer register domains thru Joker.com.

I may be wrong but its almost as though you are suggesting we throw out
the baby with the bath water.

Vic