PRIVACY Forum Digest Wednesday, 16 September 1992 Volume 01 : Issue 17 Moderated by Lauren Weinstein (lauren@cv.vortex.com) Vortex Technology, Topanga, CA, U.S.A. ===== PRIVACY FORUM ===== The PRIVACY Forum digest is supported in part by the ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy. CONTENTS Telephone comm encryption (Daniel Burstein) Re: Wells Fargo Bank changes customer security system (Lynn R. Grant) Re: Wells Fargo Bank changes customer security system (Tom Zmudzinski) *** Please include a RELEVANT "Subject:" line on all submissions! *** *** Submissions without them may be ignored! *** ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The PRIVACY Forum is a moderated digest for the discussion and analysis of issues relating to the general topic of privacy (both personal and collective) in the "information age" of the 1990's and beyond. The moderator will choose submissions for inclusion based on their relevance and content. Submissions will not be routinely acknowledged. ALL submissions should be addressed to "privacy@cv.vortex.com" and must have RELEVANT "Subject:" lines. Submissions without appropriate and relevant "Subject:" lines may be ignored. Subscriptions are by an automatic "listserv" system; for subscription information, please send a message consisting of the word "help" (quotes not included) in the BODY of a message to: "privacy-request@cv.vortex.com". Mailing list problems should be reported to "list-maint@cv.vortex.com". All submissions included in this digest represent the views of the individual authors and all submissions will be considered to be distributable without limitations. The PRIVACY Forum archive, including all issues of the digest and all related materials, is available via anonymous FTP from site "cv.vortex.com", in the "/privacy" directory. Use the FTP login "ftp" or "anonymous", and enter your e-mail address as the password. The typical "README" and "INDEX" files are available to guide you through the files available for FTP access. PRIVACY Forum materials may also be obtained automatically via e-mail through the listserv system. Please follow the instructions above for getting the listserv "help" information, which includes details regarding the "index" and "get" listserv commands, which are used to access the PRIVACY Forum archive. For information regarding the availability of this digest via FAX, please send an inquiry to privacy-fax@cv.vortex.com, call (310) 455-9300, or FAX to (310) 455-2364. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- VOLUME 01, ISSUE 17 Quote for the day: "I never drink--wine." Dracula (Bela Lugosi) "Dracula" (1931) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 07:36 GMT From: Daniel Burstein <0001964967@mcimail.com> Subject: telephone comm encryption A product I am eagerly waiting for, and I keep hearing rumors about, is a standard looking modular handset with an encryption algorythm incorporated. This would significantly improve the privacy and security (not necessarily the same thing) of phone calls. It has the added advantage of being portable from instrument to instrument (although a pair would be needed). The electronics for all sorts of encryption levels are presumably straightforward, yet the only things I've seen on the market are acoustically coupled speech invertors. While I can understand (although strongly disagree with) that there might be restirctions on RSA/DES ++ quality units, surely someone has one available. Any leads greatfully appreciated. Thank you, Danny ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 12:03 EDT From: Lynn R Grant Subject: Re: Wells Fargo Bank changes customer security system Regarding Randy Gellins' comment in V16 about whether stores could use the fact that they don't collect data about your buying habits as a marketing advantage... To some degree, this is what AT&T is doing in response to MCI's "Circle of friends and family" program. They're running adds that say if you use their long distance service, you don't have those pesky MCI people bothering your friends. They even say something like, "We feel that your friends and family are your own business." If it works for AT&T, maybe the same marketing approach really would work for stores. Lynn Grant ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Sep 92 08:50:05 EDT From: Tom Zmudzinski Subject: Re: Wells Fargo Bank changes customer security system In PRIVACY #16, Randy Gellens asked: >> What would it take to change our institutions so that technological advances were used to help people retain more privacy, instead of causing us to have less? Well, it's no a panacea, but I favor the idea [that unfortunately died in the House three-four(?) years back] that every February 1st, every business that has a database entry identifying ANYONE would have have to notify that person IN FULL. That is, if XYZ Corp. has an entry on 1/ea "Tom Zmudzinski", XYZ Corp. would have to REGISTERED MAIL /RETURN RECEIPT me an annotated copy of ALL the data they have on me (no cute li'l computer codes like "27J" -- it would all have to be translated into StupidSpeak). This modest proposal puts a co$t (production, mailing, and bookkeeping) on keeping track of identifiable individuals. (Statistical models of customers would be "free".) The preceding _may_ have been the greatest work of fiction since vows of fidelity were included in the French wedding ceremony. Make of it what you will. Tom Zmudzinski ------------------------------ End of PRIVACY Forum Digest 01.17 ************************