From: cvs@openprivacy.orgCVS update: openprivacy/htdocs/notes
Date: Tuesday February 13, 19101 @ 13:18
Author: fen
CVSWEB Options: -------------------
Main CVSWeb: http://openprivacy.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/cvsweb.cgi
View this module: http://openprivacy.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/cvsweb.cgi/openprivacy/htdocs/notes
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Update of /usr/local/cvs/public/openprivacy/htdocs/notes
In directory giga:/home/fen/projects/openprivacy/htdocs/notes
Modified Files:
whitepaper.shtml
Log Message:
more on profiles (and value of the industry)
*****************************************************************
File: openprivacy/htdocs/notes/whitepaper.shtml
CVSWEB Options: -------------------
CVSWeb: Annotate this file: http://openprivacy.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/cvsweb.cgi/openprivacy/htdocs/notes/whitepaper.shtml?annotate=1.8
CVSWeb: View this file: http://openprivacy.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/cvsweb.cgi/openprivacy/htdocs/notes/whitepaper.shtml?rev=1.8&content-type=text/x-cvsweb-markup
CVSWeb: Diff to previous version: http://openprivacy.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/cvsweb.cgi/openprivacy/htdocs/notes/whitepaper.shtml.diff?r1=1.8&r2=1.7
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Index: openprivacy/htdocs/notes/whitepaper.shtml
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30
: Tue Feb 13 2001 - 13:18:46 PST
diff -u openprivacy/htdocs/notes/whitepaper.shtml:1.7 openprivacy/htdocs/notes/whitepaper.shtml:1.8
--- openprivacy/htdocs/notes/whitepaper.shtml:1.7 Mon Feb 12 20:02:47 2001
+++ openprivacy/htdocs/notes/whitepaper.shtml Tue Feb 13 13:18:44 2001
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff">
- <!-- $Id: whitepaper.shtml,v 1.7 2001/02/13 04:02:47 fen Exp $ -->
+ <!-- $Id: whitepaper.shtml,v 1.8 2001/02/13 21:18:44 fen Exp $ -->
<h1>OpenPrivacy - Building a Better Internet</h1>
@@ -48,33 +48,58 @@
<blockquote>
<h3>Philosophy</h3>
<p>
- Though we provide a system that securely protects one's
- <i>privacy</i>, we are focused on <i>openness</i>. In order to be
- able to freely search for and collect, read, write, publish and
- distribute information in a highly networked society without fear of
- reprisal, there must be a mechanism that can dissociate a user from
- her actions. It is our intention and firm belief that pseudonymous
- entities combined with our concepts of reputation and ins intrinsic
- value will form the cornerstone for a powerful and unlimited
- communications mechanism that will allow us all to make better
- informed - and more profitable in every sense of the word -
- decisions.
+ While we provide a system that securely protects one's privacy, we
+ are focusing our efforts on creating an <i>open</i> system. By
+ "open", we mean much more than merely being Open Source with open,
+ published APIs. We are creating a mechainsm for communications and
+ interaction that provides free and open access to all.
</p>
+ <p>
+ In order to be able to freely search for and collect, read, write,
+ publish and distribute information in a highly networked society
+ without fear of reprisal, there must be a mechanism that can
+ dissociate a user from her actions. It is our intention and firm
+ belief that pseudonymous entities combined with our concepts of
+ reputation and ins intrinsic value will form the cornerstone for a
+ powerful and unlimited communications mechanism that will allow us
+ all to make better informed and more profitable - in every sense of
+ the word - decisions.
+ </p>
<h3>What a Profile Is (and How Profile Data Is Used)</h3>
<p>
- <font color="red">
- <i>
- how is profile data collected? what does it comprise of? how
- is it used? what is its value?
- </i>
- </font>
+ When we talk of a person's <i>profile</i> we are referring to a
+ store of information that may include one's name, age, gender, phone
+ number, postal or electronic mail address, purchase history, web
+ surfing habits, subscriptions, or any of a multitude of other
+ personal preferences, traits and abilities. Often, a persistent
+ cookie is deposited by a company's web site on one's computer or
+ other device so that the company can track the individual's behavior
+ as they browse the company's site. More advanced systems, such as
+ those used by DoubleClick, can track a person from site to site.
+ The capability to accumulate and cross-reference this data supports
+ the multi-billion dollar industry of direct marketing.
</p>
<p>
For traditional marketing mechanisms to work, profile data must be
- linkable to the people that it refers to. Such links may be one's
- phone number, postal or electronic mail address, a persistent
- cookie saved by a company's web site on one's computer, or other
- devices.
+ linkable to the people that it refers to so that they may be reached
+ by phone, mail (electronic or physical), banner ads or regional
+ advertising campaigns. The value of such information is immense.
+ One vivid example can be seen in the acquisition of Hotmail by
+ Microsoft for a total of $395 million. While the software to create
+ such a system was trivial, what Microsoft actually bought was the
+ access to Hotmail's 10 million users. Another view as to the value
+ of personal profile information can be seen by looking at the sales
+ figures attributed to direct marketing:
+ <blockquote>
+ U.S. sales revenue attributable to direct marketing is estimated to
+ reach more than $1.7 trillion in 2000. Through 2005, sales are
+ estimated to grow by 9.6 percent annually to reach $2.7 trillion.
+ [<i>Economic Impact: U.S. Direct Marketing Today Executive
+ Summar</i> <<a
+ href="http://www.the-dma.org/library/publications/libres-ecoimpact2.shtml">http://www.the-dma.org/library/publications/libres-ecoimpact2.shtml>>]
+ </blockquote>
+
+
</p>
<h3>Data Mining</h3>
<p>