E-Commerce Without E-Privacy is E-Theft, Advocate Tells Lobbyists; Junkbusters slams mock-regulation proposed by Global Business Dialog, calls for strong privacy rights for Americans.WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 13, 1999-- Junkbusters President Jason Catlett harshly criticized proposals presented at a meeting of the Global Business Dialogue on e-commerce (GBDe) in Paris today. "Businesses keep saying the same two words -- 'Trust us' -- but consumers are increasingly finding themselves helpless when their privacy is compromised. What 'self-regulation' really means is 'no rights.' What they mean by 'privacy technology' is usually 'privacy-reducing technology.' Big businesses and the U.S. Government should stop opposing legal privacy rights," Catlett said, pointing to the "safe harbor Safe Harbor 1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated. 2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive. " proposals of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission's recommendation that Congress not pass any Internet privacy Internet privacy consists of privacy over the media of the Internet: the ability to control what information one reveals about oneself over the Internet, and to control who can access that information. law. Catlett critiqued a proposal from the Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :HWP HWP Height (and) Weight Proportionate HWP Half-Wave Plate HWP Highway Patrol HWP Height Weight Proportional HWP Hewlett-Packard Corporation (stock symbol) HWP Hydrolyzed Whey Peptides ) to extend the Better Business Bureau OnLine (BBBOnLine) "Privacy Seal" worldwide. "The BBB's alternative dispute resolution Procedures for settling disputes by means other than litigation; e.g., by Arbitration, mediation, or minitrials. Such procedures, which are usually less costly and more expeditious than litigation, are increasingly being used in commercial and labor disputes, Divorce process has proved helpful as a low-cost alternative to the courts, but in the case of privacy, Americans have practically no privacy law useful to them in court," Catlett said. "Big businesses are promoting privacy seals to stave off real privacy rights." He pointed out that the BBBOnline seal applies only to information collected over the Internet, not to the company as a whole. One of the first seals issued by BBBOnline was given to Equifax, a consumer reporting agency with a long history of violations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is legislation embodied in title VI of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C.A. § 1681 et seq. [1968]), which was enacted by Congress in 1970 to ensure that reporting activities relating to various consumer transactions are conducted in a of 1974, a privacy law that applies only to such companies. A competing seal issuer, TRUSTe, was also discredited in a recent case involving Microsoft's Global User Identifier. Catlett also released today an open letter to the developers of the World Wide Web Consortium's Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P (Platform for Privacy Preferences) A protocol for sharing private information over the Internet from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). A Web site's privacy policy is defined by the Webmaster answering a standard set of multiple-choice questions, which result in ), which he dubbed the "Pretext for Privacy Procrastination." "Privacy is not a pot of gold at the end of the technological rainbow. It is a fundamental human right that must be protected by law. After businesses accept those rights, they will develop technologies to support and respect them." Watchdog group Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Center Electronic Privacy Information Center or EPIC is a public interest research group in Washington D.C.. It was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values in the also released a report today titled "Privacy and Human Rights 1999" at the 21st International Conference on Privacy and Personal Data in Hong Kong. It details recent laws to protect privacy, and technology that invades it. This release is available at http://www.junkbusters.com/nr25.html with links to the various resources. Junkbusters Corp. helps consumers defend themselves against intrusive marketing and protect their privacy online. At http://www.junkbusters.com the company provides extensive free resources for stopping telemarketing calls, unwanted physical mail, junk email, and commercial invasions of privacy on the Internet. |
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