Re: [Asrg] draft-irtf-asrg-criteria (was Re: request for review for a non FUSSP proposal)

[Alessandro Vesely <[e-mail]>]

Ian Eiloart wrote:
>> Privacy laws are aimed at protecting people 
>> against undiscriminated usage of collected personally identifiable 
>> information, a.k.a. personal data.
>
> You're missing an important definition of "privacy" - the right to be 
> undisturbed (for example, by unsolicited advertising in your INBOX or on 
> your doormat).

No, I'm not. Since email addresses and doormat locations are part of a 
recipient's personal data, recipients can exercise their right on 
whether that piece of information may be used to deliver that piece of 
advertising.

Let me exemplify: my email address is on my town's public directory, 
and some used cars sellers want to advertise by email special deals in 
each town. An interpretation of "privacy" may imply that when the 
sellers copy my address into their list, at the same time notify me 
the details of their data processing. I don't want an email for that 
notification, just a machine readable note at my MX server. That note 
should arrive _before_ any email message, so that I can automatically 
delete my address from the sellers' list even before they send me any 
advertisement, if that's how I've configured the server.

> Many people consider privacy to be simply the right to remain unobserved 
> (secrecy), but the right to be let alone is the basis of the UK's 
> "Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003". 
> Those regulations are subsidiary to our Data Protection Act of 1998, but 
> don't arise from it.

They are too abstract to be useful for any practical purpose. 
Nevertheless, they provide guidance.

> Once upon a time, the two aspects of privacy were entwined by mass 
> illiteracy and slow communications. Nowadays, near ubiquitous 
> communications mean it's harder to voluntarily avoid interference by 
> keeping your location secret - partly because it's harder to keep it 
> secret, and partly because for many modern communications methods your 
> physical location doesn't matter.

It's not secrecy, it's usage. I have the right to allow my address to 
stay on one list and delete it from another one. Even if both lists 
are public, my data is mine.