[I'm starting to suspect that these pro-regulatory privacy folks who are so upset about Google are really just anti-advertising. They claim Gmail's text scanning (done entirely by a machine) is so awful and invasive and intrusive. And of course they do this from the comfort of their own email accounts, which are text-scanned by an anti-spam program (also done entirely by a machine). What's the difference? --Declan] -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Politech] California state senator wants to ban Gmail [priv] Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 12:18:55 -0400 From: Jedidiah I. Sorokin-Altmann <jedidiah.i.sorokin-altmann@private> To: Declan McCullagh <declan@private> References: <407C0802.5000509@private> Gmail isn't an invasion of privacy--the real intrusion is Senator Figueroa's proposed legislation. While Gmail might be like having a massive billboard in the middle of your home, it is like having a massive billboard in the middle of your home that YOU asked to put there. Nobody is going to be forcing people to switch over to a Gmail account. While Figueroa's intentions might be good, she should spend her energy telling people why Gmail is bad and trying to persuade them not to use it. Legislating what e-mail service people can use is an abuse of governmental powers. ~Jed Sorokin-Altmann Dartmouth Civil Liberties Union, President -------- Original Message -------- Subject: RE: [Politech] California state senator wants to ban Gmail [priv] Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 12:46:04 -0500 From: Greg Kavalec <Greg@private> To: 'Declan McCullagh' <declan@private> CC: <Senator.Figueroa@private> We here in Texas hereby offer Google the use of our fair state to host their GMAil services. And they need not worry, unlike California we aren't a Democratic Peoples Republic. G.Waleed Kavalec -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Spend our tax dollars on getting a privacy policy of your own - don't worry about Google! Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2004 23:21:58 -0700 From: Zack Linford <zl@private> To: <Senator.Figueroa@private> Dear Senator Figueroa, I am writing today because I am concerned about a recent article I read on News.com regarding your recent "call to arms" against Google's GMail web services - as referenced in the link below: http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5190219.html?tag=nefd.top <http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5190219.html?tag=nefd.top> It strikes me as both hypocritical and shortsighted that you should position the public's view in a negative light against Google for privacy violations, when the contact form on your own website is completely devoid of any privacy policy or terms of use. That said, I applaud Google's efforts to push technology forward a step - while happily admitting the extent of their privacy intrusions for advertising purposes. Nearly all contextual advertising including pop-ups, banners, hotmail accounts, etc contain sophisticated user behavior analysis - from cookies to search metrics - which could be construed as privacy violations. Bottom line - at least Google is offering full disclosure of their privacy policies up front which allows users to make a choice! Your website, however, leaves the privacy issue muddled and damages your credibility as a senator that purports to understand digital privacy rights. Zack Linford Operations Director Swift Internet Services, LLC --------------------------- zl@private <mailto:zl@private> SD 858-625-4200 SB 805-964-8999 _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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