Fritz, at it again

http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/0...are/index.html

a more in depth article can be found here:
http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/0...re/index1.html


A law to protect spyware

Sen. Fritz Hollings is pushing a bill that supposedly safeguards online privacy -- but actually gives intrusive marketers a green light.

… the tracking of personal data riles enough people that a new bill that purports to protect online privacy was introduced in Congress just last week. As the bill -- sponsored by Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C., and titled the Online Personal Privacy Act (S. 2201) -- notes, consumers fear there's too little privacy online and too much sharing of sensitive personal information among the business elite. Up to a third of them have been submitting bogus data about themselves in an attempt to protect their privacy, and "tens of billions of dollars in e-commerce" have been lost due to privacy fears, the bill warns.

But Hollings' bill should outrage Internet users just as much as Brilliant Digital's spyware. For while it talks a good game about protecting "sensitive" information, the truth is that it would place a congressional stamp of approval on precisely the kinds of practices that purveyors of spyware are eager to engage in.

The fact that Hollings is behind this bill should be the first clue about the real agenda it serves.

Likewise with the Online Personal Privacy Act. It is masquerading as pro-consumer when in fact it is pro-business. The new legislation is similar to laws passed in Europe that divide your personal information into two types. The first is "sensitive" information, such as your financial and medical history, race, lifestyle, religion, political affiliation, and sex life. The second is "nonsensitive" information, and among that will include your name, address, and records of anything you buy or surf on the Internet. Under the act, business can't collect or divulge the sensitive bits without your express consent, but anything classified as nonsensitive can be freely collected and sold at will.

But the nonsensitive clause is a huge gaping loophole through which business will ride roughshod. Never mind that part about "sensitive" information being forbidden. Most things that businesses want to know about us can be inferred just by examining the things we buy, read and click on. If they can put that information together with our names, which the bill allows, then any concept of "privacy" protection is rendered meaningless. The Online Personal Privacy Act legitimizes the kind of intrusive spyware program activity that is currently proliferating.

I saw this article a while ago...I think this jackass has made the top of "my list."

lol

Oooooh's and Awwwww's!

thesecretfire, i believe this is a new one. it mentions his previous 'works' which is maybe why it looks familiar. the man is on a roll.