more on Realities of Skype and eBay

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat org>
Date: September 13, 2005 12:54:26 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net, Ip Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Realities of Skype and eBay


At 08:59 AM 9/13/2005, Bruce Krulwich wrote:


> If people are concerned about privacy and security, why is everone
> concerned only about big companies?

Because big companies, historically, have been the most flagrant
abusers of customers' personal data. Witness the flap over
customers' calling records (which the Bells, not long ago, wanted
to sell to third parties). Had a small company done that, its
customers likely would have fled in a moment. But when a monopolist
(and eBay/Paypal has a virtual monopoly on both online auctions and
online auction payments) abuses its position, there is far less that
consumers can do. So, a large company, and especially a monopolist,
is more likely to commit abuses. eBay, for example, allows advertisers
which plant tracking cookies on visitors' machines to advertise on its
site. And eBay itself tracks users' progress through its site. If it
owns Skype, it would -- like the Bells -- have records of your calls.
Would it abuse that information? Would it sell it? The larger it gets,
and the more confident it is that consumers will put up with such
behavior, the more likely it is to do so.


> Let's also be sure not to consider people suspect just because
> they're successful.

Alas, companies -- once they grow beyond sole proprietorships or very
closely held corporations -- cease to be, or even resemble, "people."
Worse still, they are not held by our current system to the same
ethical standards as are people, even though they have more power to
abuse and thus are more likely to abuse it. And because our corporate
system values profit over all (in fact, a corporation can be sued for
pursuing virtually ANY policy that does not return maximum profit to
stockholders), the pressure on such entities to commit abuses where
there is something to be gained is enormous.

Were our system set up so that larger entities were more accountable
rather than being less accountable (which, in general, they are due
to their ability to hire lawyers and lobby), if their interests were
aligned with those of the public, and/or if their power was more
strictly limited, it would be prudent to trust them. But in our
world as it exists today, it is not. In fact, it is exceedingly unwise
to do so. Any large or publicly held corporation must be considered
suspect -- and monopolists most of all.

--Brett Glass



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