From: jsw@neon.netscape.com (Jeff Weinstein)
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 95 19:55:06 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Netscape and privacy
In-Reply-To: <9509290026.AA08282@toad.com>
Message-ID: <44fn4k$s4t@tera.mcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


In article <9509290026.AA08282@toad.com>, csmyth@blaze.cs.jhu.edu (Chris Smyth) writes:

> It is true that a user automatically contacts the Netscape Web cite when
> starting the browser if he or she has not reset the default home page.  I
> reset my home page long ago, but I do not know if the Netscape site is still
> contacted anyway.  Nor do I know if Netscape is contacted when I quit the
> browser, or if elapsed usage time is tracked.

  We are counting unique installations of netscape.  We have no way
of mapping that information to a user name.  We don't save any
information about you when you contact our web site.  The Navigator
doesn't make connections to our site behind your back.

> The future Clark posits for his corporation depends on people adopting
> Netscape software for a wide variety of tasks. He wants the browser to
> evolve toward being a general multimedia web browser, mail handler,
> newsreader, and collaboration tool.  Such a tool would handle large amounts
> of private and/or proprietary information and the creator of such a tool
> must be extremely sensitive to privacy concerns in my opinion.  Collecting
> and relaying information about usage is potentially a significant violation
> of the privacy users will expect.

  We are very sensitive to privacy concerns.  A bunch of folks now
working here revolted against an effort to track keystrokes and
mouse clicks in Mosaic while they were at NCSA.  One of those
folks was marca himself.

	--Jeff

-- 
Jeff Weinstein - Electronic Munitions Specialist
Netscape Communication Corporation
jsw@netscape.com - http://home.netscape.com/people/jsw
Any opinions expressed above are mine.