The recent revelations about the activities of the company Doubleclick have shown that self-regulation does not work. The privacy policies of companies are useless, as there is no way of checking compliance. They are also too vague in language that the comsumer finds it difficult to determine what is allowed.

In the non-computer world we would not allow somebody to secretly enter our home, rummage through our files and take or copy what he finds interesting. Also, if we invited somebody and he takes the liberty, without our knowledge, to syphon information, we would consider this criminal behaviour.

Yet, that is exactly what many companies are doing with the information on my private computer through the use of cookies, web-bugs and other devices I do not know as of yet.

The so-called opt-out procedure is also ineffective. In order to protect myself by opting out I need to know the agents that gather information from me. This is not possible,as most companies do it secretly, (see the recent disclosure of the activities of the company Aureate).

The opt-out procedures of the individual companies are also incompatible. F. i. if you opt-out from one company by changing parameters in your browser, you unknowingly open the gateway for theft of information by another company that you in all likelihood do not know.

The solution appears simple: a law should be established to make it illegal to take any information from computers of others (private individuals, organizations, or companies) without the written (E-correspondence) or implied (by offering infomation) consent of the owner.

The net browsers should be subject to certification that they have the capabilities to prevent theft of information. That way we would be able to ensure that foreign agents on the network not subject to US Law cannot take information.
 

Helmut Schulz
Brevard, NC