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Technology Stocks : IATV-ACTV Digital Convergence Software-HyperTV -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SBerglowe who wrote (8111)	12/1/1999 11:28:00 AM
From: Mike Fredericks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13157

Hyper TV is just one of many internet companies asking for personal data. I agree wholeheartedly. The 60 minutes guy wasn't talking about IATV, he was talking about the internet as a whole. Stories like the one 60 minutes ran will scare people. They talked about how a woman had posted to deja.com about her cancer and depression issues, and how background services will search the usenet for posts by a person and tip off employers about this stuff. So that woman may not get a job because she had cancer and was depressed. They also talked about companies like DoubleClick that generate a profile of you and track exactly which websites you visit. If they put this info together with your personal info, you could go to a site talking about investments and then immediately get a phone call from an insurance guy selling you life insurance or something because you fit the profile of 'interested person' based on the site you were viewing. To their credit, 60 minutes did show both sides of this last argument. Some people think it's a breech of privacy when they get a phone call like that. Others think it's real neat when a site can customize itself to your perceived needs without you having to do anything for it. I read the newspaper several times a week and every other week or so I see a story on net privacy this, or privacy of medical records that, or something related to privacy. We're a privacy-oriented society. Or at least we like feeling private. Our information is out there and anyone can get it. However, people are sensitive to this issue, and just because alot of internet companies aren't so sensitive doesn't mean it's ok for HyperTV not to be sensitive. I think that we can get the information we need without coming across as being invasive. People don't mind submitting demographic info if their name isn't attached. -Mike