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                Date: 1999-11-15
                 
                 
                Wider den Profiling/wahn
                
                 
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      Was kann man gegen den vor allem im US-Netz  
grassierenden User/Profiling/Wahnsinn unternehmen? EPIC,  
Junkbusters, Privacy International und andere "usual  
suspects" starten einen Vorstoss für das Recht auf  
Anonymität und vertrauliche Behandlung der Benutzerdaten. 
 
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PRIVACY ADVOCATES WARN ECOMMERCE SITES  
AGAINST UNFAIR PROFILING Consumer groups detail best  
practices for online merchants to protect their customers'  
privacy 
 
San Francisco--November 15, 1999--Privacy groups today  
urged ecommerce sites to spurn the intrusive and unfair  
information practices of online advertising networks.  
Speaking here at Personalization.com's Summit meeting,  
Junkbusters Corp. President Jason Catlett issued a warning  
to Web merchants: ``Consumers, regulators and legislators  
are becoming increasingly unwilling to tolerate companies  
that amass huge electronic dossiers from consumers'  
movement in cyberspace. Businesses that use or assist this  
surveillance are pitching their tents in a hurricane zone.'' 
 
During hearings in Washington last week at the Federal  
Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce,  
privacy advocates called on the FTC to halt online profiling  
until legal protections are established. "Consumers and the  
government should realize that companies that are collecting  
detailed information from online consumers without their  
knowledge and consent are not personalizing -- they are  
invading privacy," stated Andrew Shen, Policy Analyst at the  
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). (See  
http://www.epic.org or http://www.junkbusters.com/news/ for  
details.) 
 
The privacy groups today issued specific advice for  
ecommerce and media sites. 
 
* Don't buy or barter profiles or identity from advertisers or  
other merchant sites. Wait for the customers to identify  
themselves and tell you what they want. * Don't sell or share  
profiles or the identity of registered customers with other  
sites. Keep your customers' trust and their data confidential.  
* Don't touch schemes that build ``cooperative databases''  
that pool information on visitors using techniques such as  
cookie synchronization. * Stop ad networks and advertisers  
from using clickstream data from your site. Specifically,  
banish from your site all clear GIF "web bugs" that report  
surfers' movements. * Support the ability of consumers to  
visit and use sites anonymously. Sites should not require  
cookies or registration as a condition of use. Anonymous  
payment schemes are encouraged. * Destroy old server logs,  
or aggregate the clickstream data so as to remove personally  
identifiable information. 
 
For sites that mass-customize their content according to an  
in-house profile, * Ask each user's permission before  
performing customization. * Disclose in detail the techniques  
and data used. * Provide each user with full access to all the  
information maintained about him or her, along with the ability  
to change or destroy the information if desired. * Keep the  
data secure and confidential. * Commission periodic audits to  
assure compliance. 
 
``The dramatic stealth infiltration of profiling technology  
throughout the web is damaging public trust in the Internet,''  
said Jeff Chester, Executive Director of the Center for Media  
Education. "Online merchants who engage in unfair  
information practices will reduce the market size for  
themselves and ecommerce as a whole." 
 
The groups calling on ecommerce sites to reject unfair  
profiling and protect consumers' privacy include EPIC, CME,  
Privacy International, Junkbusters, and Privacy Journal and  
Privacy Times. 
 
Three conference calls will be held with leading advocates from these groups.  (Not all speakers will be available on all calls.) 
 
	10:30am EST Monday November 15 	1:30pm EST Monday November 15 	11am EST Tuesday November 16 
 
Call 918-222-7123, wait for tone, enter code 2350 followed by the pound sign. 
 
A related topic to be discussed will be the announcement  
Monday by IBM, Doubleclick (DCLK) and Net Perceptions  
(NETP) of a ``Web solution for personalized marketing,''  
anticipated by Reuters Friday. 
 
Catlett will also speak at 5:10pm PST at the Personalization  
Summit's strategic track. 
 
Contacts: 
 
Center for Media Education Contact: Jeff Chester, Executive  
Director, (202) 331-7833 
 
Electronic Privacy Information Center Contact: Andrew Shen,  
Policy Analyst, (202) 544-9240 
 
Junkbusters Corporation Contact: Jason Catlett, President,  
(908) 753-7861 
 
Privacy Journal Contact: Robert Ellis Smith, Publisher, (401)  
274-7861 
 
Privacy Times Contact: Evan Hendricks, Editor, (202) 829- 
3660 
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edited by Harkank 
published on: 1999-11-15 
comments to office@quintessenz.at
                   
                  
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