From: irving@Happy-Man.com (Irving_Wolfe)
Subject: Re: NeXT/Addison-Wesley Documentation Set Update
Reply-To: Irving_Wolfe@Happy-Man.com
Organization: Happy Man Corp., Vashon Island, WA 98070-7399
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 21:09:12 GMT

In <9rr1vbk@rpi.edu> gad@eclipse.its.rpi.edu (Garance A. Drosehn) writes:

>irving@Happy-Man.com (Irving_Wolfe) writes:
>> As previously announced in one of the NeXT Usenet newsgroups, we 
>> are accepting orders for the Addison-Wesley NeXT documentation set 
>> at a Usenet group purchase discount price.

>  [details of a very attractive offer skipped over, an offer I'll
>   probably try to get in on myself...]

>I would personally suggest that no one ever send credit card information via  
>email.  It's not that I don't trust Irving or his company, but I *strongly*  
>suggest that no one should assume that your email message will not be seen  
>on the way to Irving.

Different people are differently connected.  Perhaps most of us are 
either on the Internet (lucky souls!) or, like my site, connected 
by uucp through reasonably trustworthy direct-Internet sites.  
(Ours are uunet and nwnexus; neither is frequented by college 
students or other likely experimenters and, most important, neither 
supports shell accounts for the public.)  I would suggest that for 
people at sites similarly well-connected, the risk is minimal.  The 
CIA (the U.S.'s KGB) probably taps and analyzes all Internet 
traffic, but if those guys wanted your credit card number, they 
know how to get it without tapping anything.  Unless your e-mail is 
passing through public-access uucp systems, the risk is extremely 
small and U.S. persons are protected by our credit-card laws, which 
limit your liability for unauthorized misuse by others to a 
minimal amount (assuming you promptly notice and report the 
erroneous charges). 

>Other peoples opinions on this may differ, I'm just suggesting that people  
>think about it.

Thinking about it and discussing it are fine.  Running away in fear 
is fine, too, after having thought about it and after having 
discussed it.  But running away in fear without the analysis is 
silly.  E-mail, as compared with a telephone call, cuts expenses at
both ends, allows use at any hour, provides a "written" record that
isn't subject to transcription error, allows handling when
convenient, and, most important in this case, since our primary
business is _not_ selling books (it's a sideline), you can think
about what you're sending and we can think about what we're
receiving instead of having one or both of us goof up and omit
important information.

As Garance said of his, this is just _my_ opinion.  But there is
another side to this issue.

There is a major price paid for lack of trust.  One man who ordered 
the set from us responded to our original posting, when we thought 
the price would be $204 rather than the actual $224.06.  He was so 
adamant in his e-mail about the price being $204 or less that I was 
afraid of a legal battle and held up his order pending confimation, 
unlike the other early responders' orders, where I assumed that an 
increase in the publisher's prices would be acceptable.  Thus, his 
reward for his caution will be receiving his books a week later.  
The big risk in this deal is me and my company, and we are not a 
risk at all.  Opinionated, definitely, obnoxious at times, sure, 
but we are nothing if not bright, honest, and fair.  E-mail is a 
genuinely trivial risk and a great convenience, though surely, like 
crossing the street, it is a risk.  One major reason for the 
existence of the Internet is the improvement in accuracy and the 
savings of time that it brings in cases like this.  If not for this 
use and others like it -- if the Internet were only good for 
passing around alt.binaries.pictures -- shouldn't it really be shut 
down?  

Regards,
 - Opinionated Irv
-- 
 Irving_Wolfe@Happy-Man.com      Happy Man Corp.  206/463-9399 x101
 4410 SW Pt. Robinson Rd., Vashon Island, WA  98070-7399   fax x108
 We publish SOLID VALUE for the intelligent investor.   NextMail OK
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Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.misc