Why are privacy and advertising strange bedfellows? (Linux Journal) [LWN.net]

Why are privacy and advertising strange bedfellows? (Linux Journal)

Posted Jun 21, 2007 11:21 UTC (Thu) by nim-nim (subscriber, #34454)
In reply to: Why are privacy and advertising strange bedfellows? (Linux Journal) by i3839
Parent article: Why are privacy and advertising strange bedfellows? (Linux Journal)

Information the state collects is only used by the state and is controlled (in democracies) by elected officials. And states have very focused interests. (plus it's totally unrealistic to expect the state not to spy on you if it really wants to)

Information collected by private entities will end up re-sold or transmitted to a lot more people, including but not limited to civil servants.
Do you really want your employer, your bank, the neighbour you fight with, your rival in love, etc to know the small damaging secrets of your private life? That's what private for-profit information collection leads to.

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Why are privacy and advertising strange bedfellows? (Linux Journal)

Posted Jun 22, 2007 20:24 UTC (Fri) by kamil (subscriber, #3802) [Link]

The reselling of information collected by private entities is, as far as I know, currently not really a problem in Europe -- there's an EU directive that pretty much bans it. So, e.g., when I lived there, I never got any offers for credit cards from companies I've never dealt with, etc. This is very different in the US, where I live now...