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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gbh who wrote (55923)	4/13/1999 8:47:00 PM
From: gnuman	Respond to of 132070

gbh, and there's still the unresolved issue of the formal FTC complaint filed by a number of privacy groups. Some company's may be a litle uneasy. Here's the conclusion of the complaint as amended. III. Conclusion: The PSN raises a significant risk of concrete harm to consumers' privacy and other interests. The PSN, whether the default is on or off, has the potential to transform the World Wide Web from a largely anonymous environment into one where individuals are expected, or even required, to identify themselves in order to participate in online activities, communicate, and make purchases. This is a far cry from the world we live in today -- either offline or online -- and would represent a grave erosion of consumer's online privacy. Many of the activities that individuals engage in on the Web do not require the collection of identifiers or personal information of any type. The PSN will needlessly erode anonymity and facilitate the practice of collecting personal information from Web site visitors without proper notice to them and without their consent. The introduction of the all-purpose PSN threatens anonymity and undermines ongoing efforts to promote responsible and fair information practices in the online environment. It will result in increased pressure on individuals to permit the collection of the PSN, and other information that can be tied to it, as a quid pro quo of engaging in transactions and interactions online, placing a burden on individuals who choose to protect their privacy. The ability to track and monitor individuals presents related risks from those seeking to cause harm -- such as the stalker, harasser, or identity-thief -- and from those seeking to collect information about individuals without their consent. In addition, studies have found that the collection of information and the tracking of individuals' makes individual's reluctant to participate in online life. Such tracking may have a particularly negative impact on those seeking out sensitive information. Consumers desire stronger security for commerce and communication. However, the PSN would have consumers sacrifice their privacy in order to gain dubious security. Technical and policy solutions must be developed that provide strong security, offer robust and varied authentication tools to support electronic commerce, and protect individual privacy and anonymity. The Pentium III PSN does not meet this standard. The privacy risks inherent in this unique ID feature outweigh the security gains Intel has stated it is intended to provide. There are no technical or legal limits on the collection, use, or disclosure of the PSN. Currently, there are no United States laws that would regulate, generally, the collection or use of the PSN. [ 8 ] Technically, the Pentium III does not limit who can request the PSN, how it is used or disclosed, under what conditions, or for what purposes. We know from our experience with both the Social Security Number and more recently with "cookies" that identifiers can be used for a variety of purposes. The PSN stands to further the collection of personal information in ways that undermine consumers' control. By providing an easy mechanism to track behavior across the Internet, Intel has created the blueprint for a de facto online identification system. We once again, respectfully request the Commission to exercise its powers to protect consumers' privacy interests in the online environment.