[WEB4LIB] customization is a double-edged sword

[Thomas Dowling]

> The disadvantage is privacy. It is possible to know what individuals are
> using and what individuals are interested in. While, as a profession, we
> regularly purge our circulation records, we can not regularly purge our
> "MyLibrary" profiles. Doing so would defeat the purpose of the entire
> system. What are we going to do when the FBI comes knocking on our door
> asking to see the profile of an individual who is making death threats?
>

It seems to me that part of the answer should be addressed in software;
design the customization program so that it either cannot, or can be
configured not to, associate an individual's identity with the profile (at
least not on the server side).  It's one thing to say, "Sorry, Junior
G-Man, I've got a policy that says I can't give you this information."
It's another thing to say, "Sorry, the system makes no provision for
recording that information--it doesn't exist."

Thomas ("Then even Scully couldn't get the information from me") Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu