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Philosophy of information ownership [ Re: Children's Privacy Act ]
Bruce Baugh wrote:
> At 11:34 PM 5/24/96 -0700, [email protected] (Timothy C. May) wrote:
>
> >If I have compiled records, dossiers, etc., as I most assuredly have (got
> >to fill up those MO disks with something), this is "my" information. Mine
> >in the sense that others can't dictate to me what I do with it.
>
> 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.
I don't think this comparison is valid at all.
> 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.
What if I just *see* your couch, and then back in my garage I use my
couch replicator to make a couch just like yours, complete with fuzzballs
and loose change between the cushions? Now I have your couch, in a sense.
Are you still upset?
When I walked off with your blood chemistry data, did you lose the use
of it for your future purposes?
And try this: I now am in posession of some information about you,
specifically:
* You subscribe to cypherpunks and are aware of (and possibly a sympathizer
towards) a variety of wacko political ideas;
* You believe in "strong" ownership rights over information (something
handy if I'm on some legislative warpath and need supporters)
What do you propose as to the obligations I should have to you as regards
the disposition of this information? For example, what if I receive a
phone call from somebody interested in any e-mail addresses of people I
know who might be interested in supporting the new on-line copyright bill?
I just might decide to sell him your address.
______c_____________________________________________________________________
Mike M Nally * Tiv^H^H^H IBM * Austin TX * pain is inevitable
[email protected] * [email protected] *
<URL:http://www.io.com/~m101> * suffering is optional