IP: When Will We Have to Opt Out Daily?

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>
>Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 14:35:18 -0500
>To: David Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
>From: "Lance J. Hoffman" <hoffman@seas.gwu.edu>
>Subject: When Will We Have to Opt Out Daily?
>
>Dave,
>The story below depicts, pretty accurately, a time-based privacy breach by
>AOL (who should know better).  I checked it out with someone in a position
>at AOL, and the story is essentially accurate.  It appears that with AOL,
>"no" does not mean "no" (and they even tell you that in the fine print).
>It's a pretty outrageous practice that brings the bad old practices of the
>pre-Internet age to today.  IP-ers might be intersted in it.
>
>Lance
>
>
>AOL To Users: Opt Out Again
>By Doug Brown, >By Doug Brown, Inter@ctive Week
>November 29, 1999 9:28 AM ET
>
>An America Online policy is again putting privacy issues on the front
>burner. The nation's leading access provider recently started sending
>e-mails to customers informing them that the privacy preferences they signed
>up for a year ago - the ones telling the company not to collect or
>distribute information about their accounts or online habits - have
>"expired."
>
>AOL said that if subscribers want their preferences to remain in place, they
>must again fill out what is known as an "opt out" form. If they do nothing,
>information about their accounts and Web habits may be distributed to
>marketers and other interested parties.
>
>The preferences' one-year life span is part of a much-publicized privacy
>policy that AOL put in place a year ago, said Andrew Weinstein, a spokesman
>at AOL. He defended the policy, saying that the company explained "to
>consumers in detail exactly how [the preferences] will work. They work on a
>one-year basis. If they want to receive materials after that, they are given
>the ability to do that."
>
>But privacy advocates evaluate the new policy differently. They said most
>AOL users are surprised to learn they have to redo their opt-out
>preferences.
>
>David Sobel, general counsel at privacy advocacy group Electronic Privacy
>Information Cente, said AOL's new approach to privacy is appalling, but not
>surprising. It also could mark a step backward for the industry's attempts
>to anoint "opting out" the only privacy solution in the online world.
>
>"I think that if we get to the point of having a serious congressional
>examination of this issue, it will be shown that 'opt out' is not adequate,"
>Sobel said. "I would show as exhibit 'A' the kind of thing that AOL is
>sending out. Not only will they bother you once, but it will become a
>constant job to keep saying 'no.' "
>
>Sobel favors legislation to deal with the collection and sale of personal
>online information. Industry, on the other hand, promotes self-regulation as
>the only way to protect privacy without setting up e-commerce roadblocks.
>
>For consumers, opting out means, generally, filling out a form - either
>online or on paper - stating an unwillingness to have personal information
>distributed. Users can opt out of lists used for sending spam e-mail, having
>logs of their online travels sold to marketers or having information about
>what they buy online disseminated.
>
>The concept has gathered momentum in Washington, D.C. The Federal Trade
>Commission recently sponsored a daylong conference that explored the
>practice of harvesting and selling data about users' online habits and ways
>to deal with it, including opting out. There are also several House bills
>pushing opting out as a way to help ensure consumer privacy.
>
>But privacy advocates generally oppose opting out, saying the practice is a
>smokescreen for businesses more than anything else. Consumers must remain
>constantly vigilant to keep their online activities out of the marketing
>loop when the burden, they argue, should instead be placed upon industry.
>
>"You're in the world, not your living room," said Sydney Rubin, a
>spokeswoman at the Online Privacy Alliance, an industry coalition that
>promotes privacy standards from an industry perspective. "You have to read
>the privacy policies and then choose whether or not to shop at a site."
>
>
>
>
>Lance J. Hoffman, Director, Cyberspace Policy Institute
>and Professor, Dept. of Computer Science, The George Washington University,
>Washington DC 20052.  Phone (202) 994-5513 Fax (202) 994-5505.
>http://www.seas.gwu.edu/seas/institutes/cpi/