[IP] Internet Mailing Lists vs. Specter-Leahy data security bill
Begin forwarded message:
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: June 30, 2005 11:48:18 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: lauren@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Internet Mailing Lists vs. Specter-Leahy data security bill
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@xxxxxxxx>
Date: June 30, 2005 1:13:55 AM EDT
To: politech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
...
That's defined as a "business entity" that it's in the
regular business of "collecting, transmitting, or otherwise providing
personally identifiable information" of 5,000 or more people that are
not "customers" or "employees."
I suspect that as far as self-subscribed Internet mailing lists are
concerned, "customers" is a key word. The sorts of mailing lists
that we (Declan, Dave, me, etc.) run are all self-subscribed lists
where persons have voluntarily signed themselves up to receive our
electronic mailings, which we provide as a free service. Even
though no money is changing hands in our cases, those recipients can
still be viewed as "customers" of our mailings -- at the very least
they fulfill the key aspect of having a direct relationship with
us that they have initiated by signing up. Nor do we provide or
sell our mailing lists to other entities.
So I believe that it would be a considerable stretch to extend the
"data broker" rules to this situation.
On the other hand, there may well be applicability of such a "data
broker" law to many spammers, who often collect e-mail addresses
without the permission of the persons involved, send unsolicited
mailings, and frequently buy and sell those mailings lists like bags
of potatos.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@xxxxxxxx or lauren@xxxxxxxxxx or lauren@xxxxxxxx
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, EEPI
- Electronic Entertainment Policy Initiative - http://www.eepi.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com
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