From: TBN@UTXVM.BITNET
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.ethics-l
Subject: Re: Gee!
Date: 30 Aug 92 05:33:47 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU


I wouldn't go so far as to say that the burgeoning information technolog
of today's society "is not worth ethical commentary" or such not. I
think it's pretty friggin' scary, actually. I'm especially thinking
back to a little blurb/article in Consumer's Reports I read over this
past year sometime (can't remember exactly when) that detailed how
much information crediting companies share with each other--it was
truly scary the kinds of stuff they knew about credit hard holders.

In any event, I'm not sure what can be done about it...I know that
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) does have a
division that works on privacy issues, though since I just joined up,
I don't have any info yet on exactly what that division is studying
currently.

It's pretty tough to sift through all of the mail from the junk, just
like you run the risk of missing a friend's call by letting your machine
take all calls in the hope of missing solicitors using the phone (more
and more solicitations seem to be occuring at night, which really
pisses me off). About the only way I know how to handle such things
is to get two phone lines and put a continous answering machine on the
listed number and answer the unlisted one....my most frightening
sceme of the year award goes to the person who thought up one rumored
scam I heard about a while back which would involve putting audio-
recorded ads to be played in between rings on a phone line. So, you
call your buddy and while you wait for him/her to pick up the phone, you
get to hear quick ads in between the rings...here's the kicker to this
plan: people could pay a monthly fee *not* to have their particular
line harrass their friends into buying something. Of course, this
makes a lot of sense, right? The people who can afford it the least
are the ones who will have the ads on their and presuming that they
have low income friends, those friends will call them up and be
enticed into buying even more products they can't afford (sort of like
the maxim that you don't see many ads and billboards in rich neighborhoo
ds, but you do in a poor neighborhood....

Our modern informational world..fun stuff, eh?

Tor Neilands, Systems Analyst
Statistical and Mathematical Support Services
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Disclaimer: All views expressed above and herein are only those of
the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University
of Texas, the UT Comp Center, and anyone else I've forgotten to include
in this disclaimer.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU