[4366] in Central_America
New quotes for Fri Jun 19
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Initializer.SysDaemon)
Fri Jun 19 01:45:53 1992
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 92 01:45:24 -0400
From: root@charon.MIT.EDU (Initializer.SysDaemon)
To: ca-mtg@bloom-beacon.mit.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ckclark (Calvin Clark):
Sometimes I feel like I should be brought down in single-user mode
and fscked, because I'm definitely running in an inconsistent state.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
cyrus (Die Die Yankee Dog!):
.. Now KEN and BARBIE are PERMANENTLY ADDICTED to MIND-ALTERING DRUGS..
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
dougie (David R Williams):
Remember, bowling is nearly the same activity as hunting herd animals.
You drive the animals into a pit and throw large, heavy rocks on them until
they are killed or maimed. In other words, a man's obsession with bowling
is due to his vestigal enjoyment of hunting.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
dryfoo (Gary L. Dryfoos):
{From system: This user's .plan file was world readable, but not it's not.}
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
gamadrid (George A Madrid):
To try more earnestly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
jefft (Jeff Tang):
"Why is this called the Women of the Prehistoric Planet?"
--- Joel on the fact that only one is on the planet (unless you
count Annette and the blonde on the ship)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
mtg (Musical Theatre Guild):
Coming this September to Kresge Little Theater...
SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE
by
Steven Sondheim
and
James Lapine
Performances will be:
August 28-30
September 3-6, 10-12
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
starflt (Derrick Kong):
WE WILL FIGHT THEM ON THE TABLES, WE WILL FIGHT THEM ON THE SOFAS...
In Battle of Britain, players must keep individual track of every
airplane that fought in the battle.
from Murphy's Rules
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
warlord (Derek Atkins):
Sounds like another Lotus Corp! Sigh. Wont they EVER learn?
From RISKS-13.59
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 15:53:06 EDT
From: Lance J. Hoffman <hoffman@seas.gwu.edu>
Subject: privacy problems with voter records
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 92 11:49:09 PDT
From: "Willis H. Ware" <willis%iris@rand.org>
From: nkraft@bkhouse.cts.com (Norman Kraft)
Newsgroups: alt.privacy
Subject: Privacy alert:San Diego voters on CD
Date: 8 Jun 92 18:31:33 GMT
Organization: Argus Computing, San Diego, CA
An article that made the front page of the San Diego Union on Sunday,
June 7, 1992 bore the title: "Technology pits privacy vs. Information
Age". The article starts with these paragraphs:
++++++
The morning after Bill Turner voted in last week's election, he picked up a
copy of a local computer magazine and his jaw dropped. "This ad just jumped
out and hit me in the face," said the 35-year old La Mesa computer programmer.
"It was a severe shock." There, for sale, were Turner's name, address,
unlisted telephone number, occupation, birthplace, birthdate and political
affiliation.
A list of San Diego County's 1.25 million registered voters containing the
information is available for $99 in a relatively new format [CD-ROM] that
virtually anyone with a personal computer can use. It is the first known such
use of voter registration data in the nation.
++++++
The CD-ROM is marketed by a San Diego company call Sole Source Systems, a local
computer store.
Lists of voter information have always been available, and political campaigns
have had access to the information on data tapes for years. This is, however,
the first time that such information has been made available to the public at
large, in an easily accessible format (dBase, from what I can gather).
Sole Source says that use of the CD is limited to "election purposes,
...election, scholarly or political research, or government purposes." Sole
Source says that they require ID and the completion of a form before selling
the CD. Turner responds to this with "What is there to prevent me from going
up there and telling him I'm with the Little Old Ladies Auxilliary 97, and I
want this list to call people up and help arrange transportation to the polls
on Election Day? It would be a bald-faced lie, but I would get it [the CD]."
He may be right, as Conny McCormack, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters
says that the registrar's office does not check to make sure the list is being
used within the law, primarily because "we have no authority in that area."
David Banisar, a policy analyst with Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibilities in Washington, DC, said in all likelihood the CD would end up
in the hands of direct marketers. "This is really an unanticipated use of the
data," he said, "You register to vote because you want to feel patriotic and do
your citizen's duty and try to get some good government. You don't register to
vote so that you can be solicited by every bozo out there with a widget that he
feels he should hock to you."
The article goes on to discuss the problems of privacy in the computer age, and
mentions two other CD-ROM databases that are publicly available: PhoneDisc USA,
from a corporation of the same name in Marblehead, Mass., lists 90 million
names, addresses and phone numbers nation wide. MetroScan CD, from
Transamerica Information Management in Sacramento, is a database containing
housing ownership information, from deed filings, and for a given address
provides the owner's name, address, when the building was purchased, how many
bedrooms and bathrooms it has, how many square feet it has, and it's property
tax assessment.
In the article, Ken Smith, from Transamerica Information Magagement,
is quoted as saying:
"I'm very much in favor of making the information, if it's in the
public domain, available to a very wide audience, rather than just
major corporations and government agencies. It's a very, very
powerful tool for the little guy."
and further:
"I don't think the privace issue has been a concern yet. I can
see where it might be in the future, but it's not a problem now."
Finally the article goes back to Dante Tuccero, from PhoneDisc USA Corp.,
listing such PhoneDisc customers as "the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration, the Navy, the Air Force, the Social Security
Administration, as well as local libraries and law enforcement, public
investigators, geneologists, and even high school and college reunions."
Quoting Tuccero, "There's a company in Langley, Va,. that uses it, I
believe, but wouldn't say so."
The last paragraphs of the article point out that "the direct-mail company
that provides PhoneDisc with most of it's data prefers to remain off other
people's lists."
"We're not at liberty to share that," Tuccero said, "A lot of data
providers like to be low key."
The saddest part of the whole article, in my opinion, is this statement
from Turner: "I have voted in every election since I was 18, and I think
(this) was the last election I'll ever vote in."
[For those concerned about the PhoneDisc listings, they will remove your
name from the next release of their CD if you call. They claim that only
two people have called so far. I imagine we can change that! Their
number in Marblehead, Mass. as given by directory assistance, is
617-639-2900.]
Norman R. Kraft, Senior Partner, Argus Computing, San Diego, CA
UUCP : ucsd!crash!bkhouse!nkraft INET : nkraft@bkhouse.cts.com
------- Message 2
From: jim@rand.org (Jim Gillogly)
Newsgroups: alt.privacy
Subject: Re: Privacy alert:San Diego voters on CD
Summary: PhoneDisc won't remove names.
Date: 9 Jun 92 21:18:44 GMT
...
I called this number to get removed from their list. The lady who
answered the phone was polite, and told me that they got their information
from the white pages of phone books around the country, which are public
information. I told her I wanted to be removed from their product, and
she responded that all I needed to do was to get an unlisted number from
the phone company so that I would not be in the next phone book, and that
would prevent me from getting into the next copy of their product. They
will not remove someone from it individually.
Looks like more cause for concern...
Jim Gillogly jim@rand.org
--- End of Central America ---
