Privacy Policies are worthless without enforcement. PRM needed.

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Brian Carini <bcarini () cmu edu>
Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2003 17:00:57 -0400
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Privacy Policies are worthless without enforcement. PRM needed.

Dave, 

Stories like this one in the Washington Post (see below) make it clear that
Privacy Policies, whether written in P3P or Legalese, are ineffectual
unless there is some enforcement behind it.  What is needed is DRM for
privacy.  Digital rights management technology could protect personal
information the same way that it protects a song, book or movie.  This way,
an individual could maintain ownership and control over their personal
information.  Stated privacy policies not be rescinded or violated without
circumventing the DRM protection, which would of course violate the DMCA.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54888-2003Jun30.html

Web Firms Choose Profit Over Privacy
By Jonathan Krim
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 1, 2003; Page A01

To parents interested in buying the popular Hooked on Phonics learn-to-read
programs, the company made a firm promise on its Web site: It would never
sell or rent their personal information to other marketers.

But that pledge was empty. In the pages of a marketing trade publication,
Gateway Learning Corp., the product's California-based parent company, was
advertising to rent the list of Hooked on Phonics buyers to other marketers.

At a price of $95 per 1,000 names, companies could arrange to have
unsolicited advertising sent to 105,936 people who bought Hooked on Phonics
in the past year. Included in the information made available to other
marketers: ages of the buyers' children.

After inquiries from The Washington Post, the company changed its privacy
policy and is no longer promising to keep such data from being offered to
others. A company spokeswoman said the firm was simply slow to update its
policy. Previous customers would be notified of the change and offered the
chance to remove themselves from the list, she said.

<...>



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