From: John Pettitt <jpp@software.net>
Date: Sat, 1 Jun 1996 09:17:50 +0800
To: Sandy Sandfort <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Privacy (was Re: Something that just crossed my mind. Sorry.)
Message-ID: <2.2.32.19960531185137.00d74220@mail.software.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 10:01 AM 5/31/96 -0700, Sandy Sandfort wrote:
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>                       SANDY SANDFORT
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>>Two quick answers:
>
>1)      What big business wants and what it would be
>        willing to accept in order to make sales, are
>        two different things.  While demographic data
>        are nice, an more robust economy full of big
>        spenders is better.
>
>2)      Big businesses are made up of individuals.
>        Most individuals would still prefer to have 
>        their own privacy preserved even if they would 
>        prefer less privacy for others.  
>
>


I think what most people want is no surprises, by that I mean that peoples
perceptions of privacy should match reality.   In many cases that will mean
no demographics.  However there are a lot of situations where people will
trade information for something they perceive as having value.  I see
nothing wrong with this *if* there is informed consent.

John Pettitt, jpp@software.net
EVP, CyberSource Corporation, 415 473 3065

PGP Key available at:
http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/htbin/pks-extract-key.pl?op=get&search=0xB7AA3705