[WEB4LIB] RE: FBI to monitor libraries

[Dan Lester]

Monday, June 3, 2002, 11:29:13 AM, you wrote:
DM> Donna Winter <dwinter at tln.lib.mi.us> said:
>> 
>> Hear, Hear! If you've got nothing to hide, who cares what you read/look at
>> on the internet. It's been really bugging me that so many people on this
>> list are bent on protecting the rights of suspected criminals and nobody
>> has spoken up on the opposite side. 
DM>         I myself have nothing to hide, but do you really believe that it's right and
DM> proper that someone should monitor your online reading habits?

I couldn't care less.

DM> Who would do such a thing? What would they do with the data?

Hey, if someone has nothing better to do than to fall asleep looking
at this aged librarian's surfing, more power to them.  As to what they
do with it, who cares?  Most of my net use is done at work, and BY LAW
AND REGULATION it is a public record.  Same as my email to
dlester at boisestate.edu.  Now my email to this address, and others, is
theoretically "private" (at least if I don't post it to a list), but I
trust that we all know how easy it is for a vast number of people to
access it without my permission.

DM> If you have no problem with
DM> people looking at what you do online then why not download the newest version
DM> of KaZaA, and take advantage of their newest "feature." It's a little
DM> programme that installs itself on your computer and allows your computer to
DM> act as a distributed computing source much the same way as SETI at home, but it
DM> doesn't ask permission to do this. It monitors what you look at and can tailor
DM> pop up ads to your preferences by keeping track of what you look at online.
DM> But as you said, you have nothing to hide.

Been there, done that.  I've used Kazaa and other P2P packages.
Again, if they post whatever ads they want, fine....adsubtract nails
most of them, and others are easily ignored.  I've yet to order
ANYthing from ANY popup ad, and have maybe clicked on two, ever, just
out of curiosity. Same is true of the vast number of spams I get per
day.  Most are automatically trashed, rest are done by me based on
subject line alone, usually. Not much different than tossing the four
credit card solicitations I got last Saturday, unopened, into the
garbage.

DM>         I mean no offense, but I think there's far more to private citizenry
DM> expecting some kind of privacy online than you may think. I look at typical
DM> library and literary fare and would probably be considered a very boring
DM> individual if one kept track of my online activity. But I still do not want
DM> anyone spying on me, whether it be my government or a corporation. (Anymore,
DM> goverment and corporations seem to be indivisible.)

That's fine if you don't want it, but you're dreaming if you expect
it. We all have to remember that we have no constitutional right of
privacy (contrary to the opinion of many).  And I'm as sure as
anything that we'll never have one.

cheers

dan

-- 
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan at RiverOfData.com 208-283-7711
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  www.gailndan.com  Stop Global Whining!