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Privacy, Permission, and Paranoia
I doubt that privacy will become an issue in the upcoming presidential elections. Nonetheless, it becomes a stickier political issue every day.
The line between permission marketing and privacy invasion could clearly use some clarification. For now, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) seems willing to allow voluntary standards to be developed. But other elements within the Federal Government are also at
work . The recent highway appropriations bill contained language that changed the standard for using motor vehicle registration information from 'opt out' to 'opt in'. Unless the law is changed before its effective date in June, this source of marketing information will virtually disappear. For a discussion on a plethora of online protections under consideration by both Federal legislative bodies, see
www.adweek.com, 3/27/00, p.26 "Getting Personal". At the same time the government is allegedly protecting your privacy, it's also collecting information about you. Two of my favorite government antagonists (Andy Rooney, 60 Minutes and Bob Metcalfe
www.infoworld.com 3/20/00, p. 106) recently railed against the Census 2000 long form, suggesting civil disobedience. While the government is an admitted problem - mainly because it can't keep a secret - the real threat could come from your supermarket. (www.interactive-week.com, 4/3/00, p. 16) Work at MIT, sponsored by consumer companies, technology companies and the Uniform Code Council (the folks that bring us bar code) is underway to develop open standards for electronic product codes (ePCs) or 'smart tags'. Think of the advantages. You buy some hot dogs from a case that is subsequently found to contain salmonella. Thanks to the smart tag and your credit card, the grocer knows exactly where the bad dogs ended up. (You can imagine your own disadvantages.) Are we that far away from using a 'Nielson refrigerator' to determine what America wants to eat? Personally, I think the scientists should spend their time developing a doorbell that reads fingerprints, so I could determine whether I wanted to answer the door, or not.
(OTE 2/00: Bionic Mouse)
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