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

[Ian Eiloart <[e-mail]>]

--On 26 June 2009 18:02:11 +0200 Alessandro Vesely <[e-mail]> wrote:

>
> Even if we may be skeptical about the effectiveness of meatspace laws for
> limiting spam, we should give them credit for defining and describing a
> number of useful terms. 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).

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.

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.

-- 
Ian Eiloart
IT Services, University of Sussex
01273-873148 x3148
For new support requests, see http://www.sussex.ac.uk/its/help/