Today's Direct Marketing News carries an op/ed piece by Robert Gellman, a Washington-based privacy consultant. He reviews three recent decisions of the BC, Alberta and Federal Privacy Commissioners. I can't say that I disagree with much of what he says, particularly his comments on the Federal Commissioner's finding related to envelope stuffers. See the article here: DMNews.com | News | Article.
1 comment:
I'm inclined to agree with his comments about envelope stuffing, though not because, as he suggests, we shouldn't sweat the small stuff when we have bigger fish to fry.
I think there is a death of a thousand cuts aspect to the advantage taken by marketers when they have our information, and I don't see much of a difference, in terms of impact upon me, between the marketer who sends me an envelope full of what I don't want because they happen to have my address, and one who sends me the same thing, plus my credit card bill, because they have a credit card relationship with me.
The issue of whether or not they or anyone else should be entitled to send me the junk shouldn't be about whether or not it is sent to everyone, it should be about whether I want to receive it.
But that isn't really about privacy per se, it's about my right not to receive junk (or spam, or etc.).
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