privacy

[Doug Millison]

Given Pynchon's comments about privacy and online information in his 
introduction to Stone Junction, this item may be appropriate here and 
may interest some of you,
from MediaChannel.org's Daily Media News round up today, at
http://www.mediachannel.org/news/today/


PRIVACY: AOL "Walking Tightrope"
A month after completing the biggest merger in U.S. history, Wall Street
and Madison Avenue expect AOL Time Warner to quickly deliver on
promises of merger synergies by leveraging its lifestyle and financial
information on about 130 million consumers, says The Los Angeles
Times. Which magazines they read, the sites they visit online, the
programs they watch on television - all are invaluable data. But AOL
subscribers, privacy watchdogs and legislators are concerned about
how large companies use such sensitive customer information, often
without a consumer's knowledge or consent. "AOL Time Warner finds
itself walking a tightrope on Internet privacy, with strong forces pulling
the company in opposite directions," says the Times.
February 15, 2001
Source: The Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/print/business/20010214/t000013371.html