IP: who is watching you access the web from RISKS

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Mon, 17 Aug 98 14:27:02 PDT
From: "Peter G. Neumann" <neumann () csl sri com>
Subject: Geocities: privacy, promises, and regulation


The Federal Trade Commission is finally beginning to confront the privacy
problem.  It has charged Geocities with misleading its 2 million customers
by secretly selling their personal information to marketers, despite the
previously professed policy of not doing so without permission.  In
response, Geocities has now posted on its Web site what is presumed to be
its actually practiced privacy policy.  [Source: Reuters item, 14 Aug 1998]


As long-time RISKS readers well understand, this is an area in which
vigilance and aggressive action are very important.  As usual in matters
relating to your identity, CAVEAT EMPTOR!


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Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 19:24:54 -0400
From: Edupage Editors <educause () educause unc edu>
Subject: Tracking activity on the Web


Lycos, Geocities, and NBC's Videoseekers are among the major Web sites that
will participate in a new service, called Engage, that was developed to
track what people are looking at on the Internet, so that advertisers can
target their marketing efforts.  David S. Wetherell, the chief executive of
CMG Information Services, the company behind Engage, gives this example of
how the service would be used: "If someone comes to your bookstore for the
first time, you can find out if they are interested in mountain climbing,
organic gardening and tennis; you can present them books related to their
interests immediately."  Mr. Wetherell adds: "We took the highest road you
could possibly take with respect to privacy.  We think you can learn a lot
more about someone from their behavior than from their name and address."
The system will keep information on age, sex, income, zip code and number of
children; it will not collect information on sexual or health related topics
and will not store individual names, addresses, and birthdays.  Privacy
consultant Jason Catlett says: "Engage has done many good things to protect
privacy, but my worry is that they are firing the starting gun in the race
for the bottom.  The worst actors will be left to use the most sophisticated
surveillance techniques as they please."  (*The New York Times*, 16 Aug
1998; Edupage, 16 August 1998)