Re: CDT Operation Opt-Out https://opt-out.cdt.org/

[Michael Clark <mclark@cdt.org>]

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Hello,

Yes, I am a member of the cypherpunks@toad.com mailing list. I felt 
that any group of people  worried about privacy as well as encryption 
would like to know about the CDT's new resource.

The site will not collect or store any information about visitors to 
the site, other than standard log files (IP, date, time, file 
requested, referral information). We are not going to be providing 
any kind of e-mail opt-out service. (But the Direct Marketing 
Assocation will be in January 2000.) We are giving pointers to the 
companies out there who will allow consumers to opt-out. Some of 
these resources are offline, such as credit bureaus allowing you to 
prevent unsolicited credit card offers from being mailed to you, or 
your state's Department of Motor Vehicles.

Despite the current lack of baseline standards, there are some things 
that can be done to protect yourself.

...from "About Opting Out" <https://opt-out.cdt.org/moreinfo/>

Why do I have to opt-out? Why don't companies just ask me before using my
name?

   This is a good question. In fact recently, members of Congress from both
parties, led by Senator Shelby (R-AL) and Representative Markey (D-MA),
spearheaded a campaign to introduce a law that would require banks and
financial institutions to ask your permission before they could use your
information for any other purpose than what it was originally collected for
("opt-in"). Unfortunately, this effort failed, but other attempts will
probably soon follow. If this concerns you, call your member of Congress
and let them know that you care about privacy. Today the general practice
in the business community is to use your information unless you object.


If you are interested in (1) keeping your name off of some of the 
places that most commonly seem to sell your name and contact 
information, or (2) preventing some of the online profiling companies 
from continuing to profile you, then I would suggest you visit the 
site.

Operation Opt-Out may be found at https://opt-out.cdt.org/.  Feel 
free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about this. 
Thanks, Michael



At 7:00 PM -0800 11/15/99, Bill Stewart wrote:
>At 02:06 PM 11/15/1999 -0500, Declan McCullagh wrote:
> >
> >At 12:45 11/15/1999 -0500, Michael Clark wrote:
> >>Are you tired of getting too much junk mail, online and off-line? Are you
> >
> >Are you tired of getting too much offtopic mail sent to cypherpunks by
> >non-list members?
> >
> >(Actually, maybe Mr. Clark is a member. I don't feel like checking though.)
>
>Dealing with spam and similar problems of electronic communication and
>privacy is reasonably on-target, and CDT are at least fellow-travellers
>whether or not  Michael Clark is specifically a subscriber.
>(It's at least as germane as guns :-)
>
>I'd like to have seem some comments on what they specifically plan to do
>with the opt-out lists, and why they expect that to help
>(e.g. providing a list of valid email addresses that don't want spam
>sounds like a great way to get all of the people on it
>flooded with emails saying "This is not spam" :-)
>
>
>				Thanks!
>					Bill
>Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com
>PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF  3C85 B884 0ABE 4639


- --
Michael Clark, Assistant Webmaster
Center for Democracy and Technology
1634 Eye Street NW, Suite 1100    Washington, DC 20006
voice: 202-637-9800    fax: 202-637-0968
mclark@cdt.org         http://www.cdt.org/
PGP Key available on keyservers

Join our Activist Network! Your participation can make a difference!
http://www.cdt.org/join/

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