more on An important column by Dan Gillmor

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Nathan Cochrane <ncochrane () theage fairfax com au>
Reply-To: ncochrane () theage fairfax com au
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 12:23:23 +1000
To: dave () farber net
Subject: RE: [IP] An important column by Dan Gillmor

Hi Dave

I spoke to Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner, Malcolm Crompton last
week.

He expressed his frustration that the owners of intellectual property (IP)
were pushing digital restrictions management but not thinking of the impact
that has on our rights to withhold our personal information (PI). He views
the Privacy Act as a way to balance the agendas of both corporations and
individuals, creating tradeable rights that level the playing field. He has
told Microsoft that Palladium should balance both sides of the equation, but
that at the moment he is frustrated that it does not.

"We're talking about a serious privacy vs piracy debate," Crompton said.

"On the piracy debate we're talking about management of Intellectual
Property (IP). I am a person with Personal Information (PI) and if that is
taken away, it is an invasion of my privacy. I would like to hear these
people (IP owners) making such a lot of noise about piracy of IP talk about
the protections of PI -- then they would have some credibilty.

"There's a pretty ugly asymmetry in the debate. Both sides need to grow up a
bit and be a bit more respective of both sides of the argument."

He says that with interactive cable television, the value proposition is
inverted -- it's our PI that is more valuable than the IP being downloaded,
but the content industry shows its disdain for us by not acknowledging it.


"The value is not in the IP going into the home but the PI coming out of the
home -– how can the ads be customised?" he asks.

"I think the debate needs to be more honest. If we are going to have a more
informed consumer, we have a better chance. The Privacy Act is an attempt to
reduce some great distortions in the marketplaces -– to make sure each of
the microeconomic players are better informed."

For my part, I chipped in that I think it hypocritical that IP owners will
kick in my door if they suspect I am stealing their IP, but to steal my PI
is just a "business case".

MORE:
http://bilskirnir.blogspot.com/2003_07_01_bilskirnir_archive.html#1057819715
66376634

------ End of Forwarded Message

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
To manage your subscription, go to
  http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/