Politech mailing list archives
FC: Sprint PCS browsers give out phone numbers; more on AMA threat
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 10:34:24 -0500
To: declan () vorlon mit edu Subject: Sprint PCS WAP browsers leave phone numbers with websites From: Jered J Floyd <jered () mit edu> Date: 08 Mar 2000 09:31:29 -0500 Fun privacy issue. --Jered http://www.theregister.co.uk/000308-000011.html Telco caught sending users' phone nos. to Web sites US telco Sprint PCS was exposed this week for breaking the unwritten rules of Net privacy. According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, when users of Sprint's new wireless data service call up a Web site, their cellphone numbers are embedded in the http requests. This allows Web sites to work out the identities of Sprint visitors or at least track individuals' use of their sites. That's against the grain: surfers generally prefer to remain incognito unless, of course, they want to buy something. Sprint's defence is that users should be used to this kind of thing by now, thanks to cookies. But while cookies can be used to track individual Web site visitors, users can set their browsers to prevent their use. And cookies don't provide a phone number a sales rep can use to cold call the cellphone owner. Either that or the user can be spammed using SMS text messages. [...]
************ Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 09:42:19 -0600 To: declan () well com From: "Matthew G. Saroff" <msaroff () pobox com> Subject: Re: FC: American Medical Association wants masturbation GIF yanked The AMA doesn't have a leg to stand on. I would refer Mr. Hayden to Pillsbury v, Goldstein, where Al Goldstein, the publisher of Scrfew magazine, had a cartoon of Mr. and Mrs. Poppin' Fresh in flagrante delecto. The Supreme Court has carved out an exception for parody regarding trademarks, etc. and this falls in the category. -- Matthew Saroff -------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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- FC: Sprint PCS browsers give out phone numbers; more on AMA threat Declan McCullagh (Mar 08)