****Re: I haven't figured out how scary this is...

[Joshua Zeidner]

> ----
> > > But honestly, that wasn't my intent of tossing the article out for
> > > everyone. I guess what worried me most about Microsoft embedding 'spy'
> > > mechanisms is part and parcel of things like the FISA legislation which
> > > obligates computer software manufacturers to embed spy software if
> > > deemed necessary for national security and I'm thinking that it might
> > > not be reasonably safe to sit in front of a computer any time soon...for
> > > a lot of reasons.
>
> >   I don't think this particular technology has any spyware
> > implications.  I don't think it is usable without the user knowing
> > about it.
> ----
> ahhh...now the subject I want to rant about. Spyware? You betcha
>
> >From the original article linked at times-on-line...
> **
> The Information Commissioner, civil liberties groups and privacy lawyers
> strongly criticised the potential of the system for "taking the idea of
> monitoring people at work to a new level". Hugh Tomlinson, QC, an expert
> on data protection law at Matrix Chambers, told The Times: "This system
> involves intrusion into every single aspect of the lives of the
> employees. It raises very serious privacy issues."
> **

  ok, I agree with that, but in no case is the users privacy being
violated /without their consent/.  I would imagine that for this to
work the user is hooked up to some kind of device like a GSR meter or
something.  Spyware has the surreptitious aspect to it where this
system has, at the least, the implicit consent of the subject.

>
> It represents an assault on your physiological and psychological being -
> that is the point of their patent...it's going to monitor you.

  its more of a workplace rights issue than anything else.

>
> Now, when you talk about things like 'Net Neutrality', most people think
> that your Internet experience will be colored/bothered by assigning
> packet flow priority based upon who they can get to pay for preferential
> treatment which of course puts the notion of Internet startups at an
> extreme disadvantage. It's already worse than that. Some Internet
> providers are already trying to packet filter stuff like P2P and now
> they're creating a new class of intrusion called Deep Packet Inspection
> (DPI). With this they would track your usage, purporting to provide
> predictive ads, but all the while knowing that this is all about big
> brother control.

  really?

  "Laws will have to be drafted to counteract the effects of deep
packet inspection where the ISP or telco can regulate the quality or
availability of service depending on 1) peer party, 2) applicaiton, 3)
nature of content."

  -Joshua Zeidner, on the PLUG mailing list 2/9/2006

  damn, were in 2008 already?  Time flies when you're having fun.

  -jmz