[LINK] Bruce Schneier: Privacy eroded in virtual world

[Howard Lowndes]

On Fri, 2005-02-25 at 12:26, Deus Ex Machina wrote:
> 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.

When the purpose that the data is used for is quite unrelated to its
original purpose, then it's best that we do eject the babe.

> 
> Vic
-- 
Howard.
LANNet Computing Associates;
Your Linux people <http://www.lannetlinux.com>
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