Re: Children's Privacy Act

["E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>]

From:	IN%"bruce@aracnet.com"  "Bruce Baugh" 25-MAY-1996 09:21:06.18

>I don't see that this is necessarily true for information any more than it
>is property. Property can be bought, sold, traded, given away, made...but it
>can also be stolen. Just as I have a right to complain if you walk off with
>my couch without my permission, so if you walk off with data on my blood
>chemistry or credit history without my permission.

	Certainly, if you were coerced into giving up this information, it
would be wrongful - including to knowingly retransmit it. But that's only the
case for dealing with governments (and, I would include, other coercive groups
such as monopolistic and oglipolistic corporations). You do have a choice in
dealing with other entities. I make that choice; I minimize my use of a credit
card, for instance. I've had months where my bill was $0.00. Now, if the
agency in question is required to collect such information because of coercion,
then that's wrongful, and that information shouldn't be retransmitted.
	-Allen