McNealy -- Get over it, Part Two (was Re: BNA's Internet Law News (ILN) - 05/30/2001)

[Arnold G. Reinhold]

At 11:24 PM -0400 6/3/2001, Dan Geer wrote:
>|   >> GET OVER IT, PART TWO - THE CASE AGAINST ABSOLUTE PRIVACY
>|   >> Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems, who earlier stated that
>|   >> there is no privacy and that people should get it over it,
>|   >> now claims in a Washington Post editorial that absolute
>|   >> privacy policies are disasters waiting to happen, writing
>|   >> that the private industry has done a pretty good job so far
>|   >> of regulating itself.
>|   > > http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A89273-2001May28.html
>|  
>|   Scott writes: "I have agreed to let my car company, for instance,
>|   track my every move through GPS satellites. Some people might
>|   consider that an invasion of privacy, but I find it comforting to
>|   know that, should my air bag deploy, they know where I am and can
>|   send help."
>|  
>|   Why is it necessary to track a car's exact location at all times just
>|   to know it's position when the air bag deploys?
>
>The point is not that there might be another way, the point is
>that understanding the bargain to be as he describes it, Scott
>finds it an acceptable one.  He is far from alone, I'd wager.
>
>--dan

I agree that consumers are all too willing to sell the privacy for 
cheap, but my point is that the bargain is being misrepresented. 
Scott, who I suspect is motivated by a desire to sell servers, has 
been saying that protecting the privacy of consumer records is 
impractical and anyway there are some benefits to relinquishing 
privacy. When the  example benefits do not, in fact,  require privacy 
to be compromised, that is a deception.

As to the first point, that privacy laws are impractical, I've 
created a Web page with an actual US privacy law that covers one 
narrow type of computer record.  Identifying information as to the 
type of record has been deleted. You have to guess what it is. Take 
the quiz at http://world.std.com/~reinhold/modelprivacylaw.html


Arnold Reinhold



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