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IP: Cautionary tale--new Buick online sweepstakes and technical/privacy problems
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 21:21:13 -0500
From: "Jonathan I. Ezor" <jezor () siliconlawyer com> (Crossposted to the WWWAC list, http://wwwac.org, and the LawMarketing list, ) I'm not usually a privacy fanatic, but the latest online promotion from Buick really has some unintended problems, as reported by ZDNet <http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/filters/bursts/0,3422,2228869,00.html>. In a nutshell, you put in your information in the online form, and get e-mailed a link with a unique customer ID to click on and print out a game piece. Unfortunately for Buick, there's nothing stopping anyone from changing the end of the URL and getting information about all other entrants. It works--if you want to see my contact information (nothing different from what I've posted here), use ID# 93604. (Of course, if you win a car with that ID, it's mine, damnit!) The moral of this cautionary tale is similar to that presented by poor implementation of frames, as well as in some choices for downloadable music--choosing one technology over another can have unintended, sometimes costly legal and PR consequences. Don't forget to keep that in mind when spec'ing out or build a site or other online resource. {Jonathan} Jonathan I. Ezor, Esq., New Media Business Attorney 212-880-0840 (v) 212-983-2537 (note corrected fax number) jezor () siliconlawyer com Of Counsel, Leavy Rosensweig & Hyman, 11 E. 44th St. NY NY 10017 Author, "CLICKING THROUGH: A Survival Guide for Bringing Your Business Online" (Bloomberg Press: expected fall 1999)
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- IP: Cautionary tale--new Buick online sweepstakes and technical/privacy problems Dave Farber (Mar 20)