ICSI Netalyzr launch

Fri Jun 12 16:34:42 UTC 2009

On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 09:43, Randy Bush<randy at psg.com> wrote:
>>> sure, we need a privacy policy that can be arbitrarily changed with no
>> ... previous ...
>>> notice just as we have for ...
>> ... everything !!!
>
> exactly.  so was the question a troll, a red herring, or just a rant?
>
> randy
>
>

I guess it was just a rant, I like to know more specifically how folks
intend to use data before I hand it over - and I like that promise to
be at least theoretically enforceable.  I am far from a lawyer but it
is my understanding that an official pp is much more substantive and
binding than a single FAQ answer -- especially in the eyes of the FTC.
 Yes policies can be changed but I can follow those changes and stop
using the service/tool/etc if I don't like the changes.

If you are saying that the policy can be changed after the fact to
allow uses of the data for purposes or in manners other than those
originally stated, I think you are wrong, see the 2004 case between
the FTC and Gateway Learning as one example I know of off hand:

Howard Beales, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
“You can change the rules but not after the game has been played.”
(http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/07/gateway.shtm)

I will grant you that in this case the data being collected is
probably not that sensitive, but the access to my computer is - to me
at least.  I for one would have used the tool immediately had there
been an acceptable PP or other TOS in place but without it I
hesitate...  So I figured I would bring it up.

~Chris

PS - if you are interested in TOS related stuff, might be worthwhile
to check out http://www.tosback.org/timeline.php a new project
launched by the EFF (no affiliation, just fyi)