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Technology Stocks : WAVX Anyone? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ralph E. Daugherty who wrote (9634)	12/31/1999 11:41:00 AM
From: REM55	Respond to of 11417

To all: This issue of privacy is not going away. This article from "ZDNet" indicates how important privacy is to Internet users. EMBASSY , when appropriately introduced, will soothe the public's concerns. Wishing success to all WAVX shareholders in the New Year. REM55 Berst Alert FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1999 How Privacy Issues Could Stall Net Growth Next Year Jesse Berst, Editorial Director ZDNet AnchorDesk There are very few things that could stall the growth of the Internet. Privacy may be one. A couple of small events this week foreshadow the bigger issues that could blow up on us as the New Year dawns: A breach of contract suit against portal giant Yahoo may have far-reaching implications for the company's privacy policy. A complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission contends e-tail giant Amazon.com's Alexa Internet software may violate privacy laws, according to the New York Times. We've talked before about the dilemma sites face on the privacy front. On the one hand, they want to collect information about individual behavior to personalize the Web for users. To show you what you want and avoid what you don't want. They also want information about group behavior to glean from the collective wisdom what works and what doesn't. Today I'm back to tell you the privacy issue is not solved. And to warn you that as we race into the New Year, privacy woes could trip us up. Because as much as data about people is the currency of the Internet, we're the ones who will end up paying when our privacy is violated. Just consider what companies promise us about the info they collect. They say it: Won't be linked. That they'll collect information about anonymous users that won't be linked up to the users email or real world address Won't be stored. They will collect the statistics, analyze them, then be rid of them Won't be shared. They won't pass along information they've learned about you to third parties Of course, we've learned from Intel, Microsoft and most recently RealNetworks that we can't believe those promises. Click for more. And from America Online that we must be ever vigilant about company privacy policies -- and always read the fine print. Click for more. Scary, yes. Scarier still is the fact companies can always alter their privacy policies. Or new owners may come in and replace them. How does all this stall the Internet? Given that privacy concerns rank No. 1 with Netizens, there are several possibilities: Lawsuits. We've seen some already; more will follow Government intervention. The FTC and Congress are both being lobbied by Net privacy advocates Grassroots efforts. I wouldn't be surprised by boycotts or protests that disrupt the activities of non-complying companies We've got many technical issues relating to the Internet to figure out next year -- bandwidth, better software, info appliances… But at the end of the day, the biggest challenge for the Internet in 2000 may not be technical. It may be ethical.