huridocs-tech Privacy and Technology

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DATE=12/23/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=PRIVACY AND TECHNOLOGY
NUMBER=5-45103
BYLINE=LINDA CASHDAN
DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTRO:  How much personal privacy are you willing to
sacrifice in order to make purchases on the Internet and
enjoy the enormous benefits of communicating through
electronic mail - known as "E-Mail"?  Linda Cashdan reports
increasing numbers of Americans are pondering that question.

TEXT:  Office E-Mail is a quick and efficient way to
communicate with friends and colleagues, but whereas old
letters can be destroyed, computer records are more
difficult to erase.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates discovered that when private
E-mail that had been sent back and forth among his top
executives was entered as evidence against him in the recent
Microsoft antitrust trial.

And if employers have trouble keeping their E-mail out of
the public eye, attorney Stephen Lesavich says, privacy is
even more elusive for employees.

            /// LESAVICH ACT ///

      A lot of companies have policies in place where there
      are tools you can buy that will search various key
      words and if any of those key words were sent in an
      E-mail message, the employer would be notified and
      they would take a look at the whole E-mail message to
      make sure that they were looking at things in context.
      For the most part, the employee has very little
      expectation of privacy because it is company property.

            /// END ACT ///

The Internet is the greatest machine ever devised for
transferring information.  Unfortunately, says Jason
Catlett, founder of "Junkbusters" an Internet site that
tells consumers how to protect their privacy on line, much
of the "information" concerns the buying patterns of
Internet shoppers.

This is made possible by tiny software tags that are put on
browsers.  The tags automatically record where a person goes
online, how often, and for how long.

            /// CATLETT ACT ///

      The advertising network finds out each time you go to
      a site, which page you went to.  And that record of
      where you go on the web goes into their large profile,
      and those companies are starting to trade in the
      identity of people, so once you get identified by one
      of these sites, they may share your name and all your
      previous browsing behavior.

            /// END ACT ///

There are ways around this, Jason Catlett says.  For
example, Internet shoppers can turn off the software tags
that identify them when they visit web sites. Unfortunately,
he says, few consumers are aware of that.

And he says some do not care.  The end goal of this privacy
invasion is to target responsive consumers with more
advertising.  Some people, he says, find that offensive,
others consider it a small price to pay for the advantages
of electronic commerce. (SIGNED)

NEB/LC/RAE



23-Dec-1999 09:43 AM EDT (23-Dec-1999 1443 UTC) NNNN

Source: Voice of America ..






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