Contact:
Jason Catlett
Junkbusters Corp.
(908) 753-7861
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington -- September 13, 1999 -- Junkbusters President Jason Catlett harshly criticized proposals presented at a meeting of the Global Business Dialogue on e-commerce (GBDe) in Paris today. ``Businesses keep saying the same two words -- "Trust us" -- but consumers are increasingly finding themselves helpless when their privacy is compromised. What "self-regulation" really means is "no rights." What they mean by "privacy technology" is usually "privacy-reducing technology." Big businesses and the U.S. Government should stop opposing legal privacy rights,'' Catlett said, pointing to the "safe harbor" proposals of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission's recommendation that Congress not pass any Internet privacy law.
Catlett critiqued a proposal from the Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HWP) to extend the Better Business Bureau OnLine (BBBOnLine) "Privacy Seal" worldwide. ``The BBB's alternative dispute resolution process has proved helpful as a low-cost alternative to the courts, but in the case of privacy, Americans have practically no privacy law useful to them in court,'' Catlett said. ``Big businesses are promoting privacy seals to stave off real privacy rights.'' He pointed out that the BBBOnline seal applies only to information collected over the Internet, not to the company as a whole. One of the first seals issued by BBBOnline was given to Equifax, a consumer reporting agency with a long history of violations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1974, a privacy law that applies only to such companies. A competing seal issuer, TRUSTe, was also discredited in a recent case involving Microsoft's Global User Identifier.
Catlett also released today an open letter to the developers of the World Wide Web Consortium's Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P), which he dubbed the "Pretext for Privacy Procrastination." ``Privacy is not a pot of gold at the end of the technological rainbow. It is a fundamental human right that must be protected by law. After businesses accept those rights, they will develop technologies to support and respect them.''
Watchdog group Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Center also released a report today titled "Privacy and Human Rights 1999" at the 21st International Conference on Privacy and Personal Data in Hong Kong. It details recent laws to protect privacy, and technology that invades it.
This release is available at http://www.junkbusters.com/nr25.html with links to the various resources.
Junkbusters Corp. helps consumers defend themselves against intrusive marketing and protect their privacy online. At http://www.junkbusters.com the company provides extensive free resources for stopping telemarketing calls, unwanted physical mail, junk email, and commercial invasions of privacy on the Internet.