|
PRIVACY Forum Archive Document
|
PRIVACY Forum Digest Thursday, 3 July 2003 Volume 12 : Issue 01
( http://www.vortex.com/privacy/priv.12.01 )
Moderated by Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com)
Vortex Technology, Woodland Hills, CA, U.S.A.
http://www.vortex.com
===== PRIVACY FORUM =====
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The PRIVACY Forum is supported in part by
the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Committee
on Computers and Public Policy, and Telos Systems.
- - -
These organizations do not operate or control the
PRIVACY Forum in any manner, and their support does not
imply agreement on their part with nor responsibility
for any materials posted on or related to the PRIVACY Forum.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
PRIVACY Forum Digest Update and Administrivia
(Lauren Weinstein; PRIVACY Forum Moderator)
*** Please include a RELEVANT "Subject:" line on all submissions! ***
*** Submissions without them may be ignored! ***
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Internet PRIVACY Forum is a moderated digest for the discussion and
analysis of issues relating to the general topic of privacy (both personal
and collective) in the "information age" of the 1990's and beyond. The
moderator will choose submissions for inclusion based on their relevance and
content. Submissions will not be routinely acknowledged.
All submissions should be addressed to "privacy@vortex.com" and must have
RELEVANT "Subject:" lines; submissions without appropriate and relevant
"Subject:" lines may be ignored. Excessive "signatures" on submissions are
subject to editing. Subscriptions are via an automatic list server system;
for subscription information, please send a message consisting of the word
"help" (quotes not included) in the BODY of a message to:
"privacy-request@vortex.com". Mailing list problems should be reported to
"list-maint@vortex.com".
All messages included in this digest represent the views of their
individual authors and all messages submitted must be appropriate to be
distributed and archived without limitations.
The PRIVACY Forum archive, including all issues of the digest and all
related materials, is available via anonymous FTP from site "ftp ftp.vortex.com",
in the "/privacy" directory. Use the FTP login "ftp" or "anonymous", and
enter your e-mail address as the password. The typical "README" and "INDEX"
files are available to guide you through the files available for FTP
access. PRIVACY Forum materials may also be obtained automatically via
e-mail through the list server system. Please follow the instructions above
for getting the list server "help" information, which includes details
regarding the "index" and "get" list server commands, which are used to access
the PRIVACY Forum archive.
All PRIVACY Forum materials are available through the Internet Gopher system
via a gopher server on site "gopher.vortex.com/". Access to PRIVACY Forum
materials is also available through the Internet World Wide Web (WWW) via
the Vortex Technology WWW server at the URL: "http://www.vortex.com";
full keyword searching of all PRIVACY Forum files is available via
WWW access.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOLUME 12, ISSUE 01
Quote for the day:
"We're your local police! WHY don't you support us?"
-- Public address announcement
"Lord Love a Duck" (United Artists; 1966)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 03 Jul 2003 20:25:08 PDT
From: lauren@vortex.com (Lauren Weinstein; PRIVACY Forum Moderator)
Subject: PRIVACY Forum Digest Update and Administrivia
Greetings. It's been quite a spell since my last PRIVACY Forum Digest,
so this issue will be primarily a quick administrative update. Never fear,
with your cooperation we'll be back to grinding our way into depressing
privacy nightmares here in the digest in no time. Needless to
say, as the U.S. and the rest of the world enthusiastically embraces
anti-privacy, anti-civil-liberties concepts that would spin George
Orwell's head, there's plenty to talk about.
This message will also serve to help remove obsolete addresses off the
mailing list, as well as delete those using anti-spam challenge-response
systems against this mailing. I'm very much opposed to spam, but it is
impossible to manually deal with challenge-response systems with these large
mailing lists -- a position being taken by most operators of major Internet
digests and lists. Challenge-response is not a cure for spam, rather, it is
a disease unto itself. But I digress.
While the digest itself has been on something of a hiatus, the PRIVACY Forum
has not. Responses to queries, research, writing, analysis, and other
privacy-related work have been continuing unabated, with much
displayed in other venues.
If you'd like to catch up with some of this, there are a number of avenues
to explore where I've presented privacy-oriented materials during the
preceding interval, a few of which include:
- PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility
( http://www.pfir.org )
- "Reality Reset" Commentary and Satire Columns
( http://www.vortex.com/reality )
- "Fact Squad Radio" Commentaries
( http://www.factsquad.org/radio )
- "Wired News" Commentaries
( http://www.wired.com )
Also, you are most cordially invited (and urged) to participate in the new
PFIR Forums discussion groups, which feature a "Civil Liberties vs.
Technology" topic area -- of course including privacy issues. The PFIR
Forums board has only been operational for a few days and is largely a
clean slate, so your participation is vital if useful contributions to the
ongoing debates on these issues are to result. Please get involved at:
http://forums.pfir.org
If you tend to stay up late at night and aren't otherwise usefully engaged,
you might wish to tune in to the popular "Coast to Coast AM" network radio
show this coming Wednesday night (9 July), when I'm currently scheduled as
the show's guest from 11 PM to 2 AM (Pacific Daylight Time). I'll be
discussing a wide range of privacy issues that will hopefully be upsetting
enough to keep everyone awake. The show is available on local radio
throughout the U.S. and through an online service.
Local station lists are at:
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/info/wheretolisten.html
The purpose of the PRIVACY Forum Digest remains the same as it has been
since I created it more than eleven (!) years ago. It's a place for
selected, thoughtful discussion of important privacy issues -- this depends
on your input. A primary reason that I deemphasized the digest recently
is that reader input had largely migrated toward people forwarding me
clippings from other sources, rather than their own thoughts and writings.
The PRIVACY Forum Digest has never been and is not a clipping reprint
service -- that's not what the digest is for.
Another problem is that increasing numbers of persons demanded that their
messages be published anonymously if at all -- simply to avoid spam. I dare
say I get more spam than most people. While I actively and publicly fight
against spam, and though there are some circumstances where anonymity in the
digest can be justified, I do not consider fear of spam to be one of them.
The digest operates in the model of a professional journal and that means
standing up for your opinions in the vast majority of circumstances.
I think that about brings administrative matters up to date!
Your submissions for digest consideration on privacy issues are again
solicited via: privacy@vortex.com -- and please do remember to
check out PFIR Forums in your copious spare time!
All the best to you and yours.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@pfir.org or lauren@vortex.com or lauren@privacyforum.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, Fact Squad - http://www.factsquad.org
Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet
Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
------------------------------
End of PRIVACY Forum Digest 12.01
************************
Copyright © 2005 Vortex Technology. All Rights Reserved.