Re: [MUD-Dev] OT: loss of information control

[JC Lawrence <claw#under,Eng.Sun.COM>]

On Mon, 22 Dec 1997 08:56:43 PST8PDT  stad <Ola> wrote:

> I received this spam today, which is a fine example of what I worry
> about:

>> Find information you wouldn't believe possible...... online!!!
> [...]

...deletia...

A critical point in evaluating the import of services such as this is
to realise that they are merely acting as the collectors and
referencers of otherwise public date.  With very minor exceptions,
everything they mention is classed as public data in the US.  They
only real service they are offering the collecting and referencing of
that data and its sources ina single place.

WHat many US residents also don't is that they can wander down the
road to almost any Private Investigator, pay them $50, and get the
same bumph.  Similarly many employers also collect the same and much
much more data in their regular background checks. (I've alsready
caught the whispers generating from the background check Sun is and
has been running on me as part of my working in a legally and NSA
sensitive area (SKIP encryption for those of you interested).

Is this something to really be worried about?  I doubt it.  Its merely
data.  The question to raise is on the use of that data, not the
presence or fact of that data.

Ditto BTW with MUD logs.

-- 
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw#null,net
                                           Internet: coder#ibm,net
----------(*)                        Internet: jc.lawrence#sun,com
...Honourary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...