🚀 go-pugleaf

The only nice part is that those of us with only one telephone line
can't be spammed verbally while we're online. :-)

Reposted for the general interest from comp.internet.net-happenings:

> Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 17:44:56
> From: John Walker <jwalker@tor.hookup.net>
> 
> AOL to give out phone numbers
> 
>                 By Janet Kornblum
>                 July 22, 1997, 5:05 p.m. PT
> 
> http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,12703,00.html
> 
> On July 31, America Online (AOL) will start making its members'
> telephone numbers available to telemarketers who do business with the
> online giant.
> 
> Most members, though, don't know that because other than posting new
> terms of service in an area that is not heavily trafficked, AOL
> apparently has not yet made other efforts to inform members of these
> and other changes to their terms of service (TOS). AOL's terms of
> service contain rules that outline everything from acceptable online
> behavior to its ability to sell member information.
> 
> The company already has taken heat from privacy experts and members
> alike for selling its members' names and addresses, along with
> personal profiles they obtain from other databases.
> 
> But few knew that AOL also has plans to sell phone numbers. "Once
> again, AOL is surreptitiously disclosing information about their
> customers without any notice," said David Banisar, staff counsel with
> Electronic Privacy Information Center, an Internet privacy advocacy
> organization.
> 
> "As an AOL subscriber, I received no notice. People are not
> disclosing this information so they can be bothered at dinnertime by
> telemarketers. They were disclosing information to AOL in case there
> was some sort of urgent reason for AOL to reach them, in case their
> credit card had been stolen."
> 
> In its new TOS (posted at AOL keyword: TOS), the company states that
> in addition to continuing its sale of member names and addresses, it
> also "may make the list with telephone numbers available to companies
> with which AOL has contractual marketing and online relationships for
> the purpose of permitting such companies to offer products and
> services over the telephone."
> 
> AOL spokeswoman Tricia Primrose said the company only plans to give
> phone numbers to companies such as CUC International, an online
> marketing firm that is paying $50 million for the privilege of
> selling and marketing its services to AOL customers.
> 
> AOL has been bringing in millions of dollars from companies that want
> to get in front of 8 million-plus service members. While the deals
> clearly give companies online access to AOL's customers, they may also
> be getting something marketers might consider far more valuable:
> contact information such as phone numbers that allow them to directly
> reach customers.
> 
> "We're not looking at this to give out member phone numbers to the
> universe," Primrose noted. "We are wanting to provide subscriber
> lists to companies with whom we have a contractual relationship."
> 
> She added that members can make sure their names and addresses don't
> go out to third parties by changing their preferences in the My AOL
> section.
> 
> Privacy advocates countered that they shouldn't have to take that
> step. In fact, Banisar said that Internet services are the only
> electronic subscriber services that are not prohibited from selling
> subscriber information.
> 
> Evan Hendricks, editor of Privacy Times, added that even if AOL only
> gives out phone numbers to companies like CUC, that still constitutes
> what he called a violation of privacy.
> 
> "CUC is a large and aggressive company," he said. "It all really
> boils down to notice and consent. They're basically doing what they
> want to do to exploit people's data, and they continually try to bury
> the notice in a place where few people are likely to look, instead of
> having a privacy box on their open pages."
> 
> David Cassel, an AOL critic and publisher of the AOL List, usually is
> apprised of even minute changes in policy. But he said he only found
> the new terms of service "by accident."
> 
> "I had a question about something else and I went to TOS. When I got
> there, I saw a small announcement that new provisions take effect in
> two weeks," he recalled. "Somewhere in the TOS they promise to advise
> members of coming changes. It hasn't happened yet. Since I write about
> AOL, I make it a point to track these things. Many AOL users might
> not realize they're bound by any new restrictions to the TOS and that
> AOL can change those rules at any time.
> 
> "If AOL's users don't mind phone solicitations, it's not a problem,"
> Cassel added. "But I imagine many of them do mind, and they need to
> be made aware of AOL's plans to increase the phone solicitations they
> receive so they can make an informed decision."
> 
> Links:
> 
> America Online: http://www.aol.com/
> (AOL): http://www.dbc.com/cgi-bin/htx.exe/squote?source=blq/cnet&ticker=AOL
> Electronic Privacy Information Center: http://www.epic.org/
> CUC International: http://www.cuc.com/
> Privacy Times: http://www.privacytimes.com/
> AOL List: http://www.aolsucks.org/list
> 
> ------------------
> 
> Also in this issue:
> - A Channel Changer for the Internet
> - Cyber schools serve up virtual college experience
> - Competition the New "Domain" Under Registrar Plan?
> - Hacker tools give IS a boost
> - Learning to stand out in a web page crowd
> -------------------------------
> Excerpt from CSS Internet News (tm)  ,-~~-.____
> For subscription details email      / |  '     \
> jwalker@tor.hookup.net with        (   )        0
> SUBINFO CSSINEWS in the             \_/-, ,----'
> subject line.                          ====           //
>                                        /  \-'~;    /~~~(O)
> "On the Internet no one               /  __/~|   /       |
> knows you're a dog"                 =(  _____| (_________|
> 
> -------------------------------
> 


--
####    |\^/|     Colin R. Leech     ag414 or crleech@freenet.carleton.ca
#### _|\|   |/|_  Civil engineer by training, transport planner by choice.
#### >         <  Opinions are my own. You may consider them shareware.
####  >_./|\._<   "If you can't return a favour, pass it on." - A.L. Brown