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IP: When Will We Have to Opt Out Daily?
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 14:50:03 -0500
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 14:35:18 -0500 To: David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu> From: "Lance J. Hoffman" <hoffman () seas gwu edu> Subject: When Will We Have to Opt Out Daily? Dave, The story below depicts, pretty accurately, a time-based privacy breach by AOL (who should know better). I checked it out with someone in a position at AOL, and the story is essentially accurate. It appears that with AOL, "no" does not mean "no" (and they even tell you that in the fine print). It's a pretty outrageous practice that brings the bad old practices of the pre-Internet age to today. IP-ers might be intersted in it. Lance AOL To Users: Opt Out Again By Doug Brown, >By Doug Brown, Inter@ctive Week November 29, 1999 9:28 AM ET An America Online policy is again putting privacy issues on the front burner. The nation's leading access provider recently started sending e-mails to customers informing them that the privacy preferences they signed up for a year ago - the ones telling the company not to collect or distribute information about their accounts or online habits - have "expired." AOL said that if subscribers want their preferences to remain in place, they must again fill out what is known as an "opt out" form. If they do nothing, information about their accounts and Web habits may be distributed to marketers and other interested parties. The preferences' one-year life span is part of a much-publicized privacy policy that AOL put in place a year ago, said Andrew Weinstein, a spokesman at AOL. He defended the policy, saying that the company explained "to consumers in detail exactly how [the preferences] will work. They work on a one-year basis. If they want to receive materials after that, they are given the ability to do that." But privacy advocates evaluate the new policy differently. They said most AOL users are surprised to learn they have to redo their opt-out preferences. David Sobel, general counsel at privacy advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Cente, said AOL's new approach to privacy is appalling, but not surprising. It also could mark a step backward for the industry's attempts to anoint "opting out" the only privacy solution in the online world. "I think that if we get to the point of having a serious congressional examination of this issue, it will be shown that 'opt out' is not adequate," Sobel said. "I would show as exhibit 'A' the kind of thing that AOL is sending out. Not only will they bother you once, but it will become a constant job to keep saying 'no.' " Sobel favors legislation to deal with the collection and sale of personal online information. Industry, on the other hand, promotes self-regulation as the only way to protect privacy without setting up e-commerce roadblocks. For consumers, opting out means, generally, filling out a form - either online or on paper - stating an unwillingness to have personal information distributed. Users can opt out of lists used for sending spam e-mail, having logs of their online travels sold to marketers or having information about what they buy online disseminated. The concept has gathered momentum in Washington, D.C. The Federal Trade Commission recently sponsored a daylong conference that explored the practice of harvesting and selling data about users' online habits and ways to deal with it, including opting out. There are also several House bills pushing opting out as a way to help ensure consumer privacy. But privacy advocates generally oppose opting out, saying the practice is a smokescreen for businesses more than anything else. Consumers must remain constantly vigilant to keep their online activities out of the marketing loop when the burden, they argue, should instead be placed upon industry. "You're in the world, not your living room," said Sydney Rubin, a spokeswoman at the Online Privacy Alliance, an industry coalition that promotes privacy standards from an industry perspective. "You have to read the privacy policies and then choose whether or not to shop at a site." Lance J. Hoffman, Director, Cyberspace Policy Institute and Professor, Dept. of Computer Science, The George Washington University, Washington DC 20052. Phone (202) 994-5513 Fax (202) 994-5505. http://www.seas.gwu.edu/seas/institutes/cpi/
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- IP: When Will We Have to Opt Out Daily? Dave Farber (Dec 03)