Date: Sat, 22 Aug 92 15:42:25 EST Errors-To: Comp-privacy Error Handler From: Computer Privacy Digest Moderator To: Comp-privacy@PICA.ARMY.MIL Subject: Computer Privacy Digest V1#072 Computer Privacy Digest Sat, 22 Aug 92 Volume 1 : Issue: 072 Today's Topics: Moderator: Dennis G. Rears Administrivia Re: Computer Privacy Digest V1#071 Auto Alarm vs Privacy Feds seek customer records on "Grow-lamps" The Computer Privacy Digest is a forum for discussion on the effect of technology on privacy. The digest is moderated and gatewayed into the USENET newsgroup comp.society.privacy (Moderated). Submissions should be sent to comp-privacy@pica.army.mil and administrative requests to comp-privacy-request@pica.army.mil. Back issues are available via anonymous ftp on ftp.pica.army.mil [129.139.160.200]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 22 Aug 92 15:41:40 EDT From: Computer Privacy List Moderator Subject: Administrivia Good Afternoon. This is the first digest in over a week. The primary reason for the slow down is a lack of submissions. Some people have mentioned to me that the existence of this forum is not well known. If possible spread the news. Hopefully submissions will pick up. Dennis ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Aug 92 13:20:09 EDT From: uunet!Camex.COM!kent@uunet.uu.net Subject: Re: Computer Privacy Digest V1#071 In Volume 1 : Issue: 071 someone asked about a book. Here are the details: By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer Victor Ostrovsky and Clair Hoy ISBN 0-312-92614-6 Published by St. Martins (at least in the US) I enjoyed it, but it made me more paranoid about encrypting personal communications. -- Kent Borg kent@camex.com or kentborg@aol.com H:(617) 776-6899 W:(617) 426-3577 As always, things look better when some costs are left out. -Economist 3-28-92 p. 94 ------------------------------ Date: 16 Aug 92 18:56:01 EDT From: Gordon Meyer <72307.1502@compuserve.com> Subject: Auto Alarm vs Privacy To: Privacy Digest >INTERNET:comp-privacy@pica.army.mil The text of a recent magazine advertisement from Pac*Tel extols the virtues of having their "Teletrac" car alarm, but fails to mention the privacy issues...of course. The text of the ad follows...[my comments in brackets] Headline: 24-HOUR MONITORING FOR YOUR CAR. IT'S PROTECTION JUST LIKE HOME. Copy: Now you can protect your vehicle the same way you would protect your home - with 24-hour monitoring. With PacTel Teletrac(tm) vehicle security monitoring, one of the Telesis(r) Services, your car's protected around the clock - 365 days a year. Should your car be hot-wired (stolen without the key), our Control Center operators automatically get a signal - then they locate and track your car on computerized maps until it's recovered by the police. We're so confident in our 24-hour service, that if your car is stolen and isn't recovered, we'll pay the difference - up to $50,000 - between what your insurance company pays and what it costs to replace it with a brand new one of the same make and model. If you're serious about car security, call 1-800-XXX-XXXX. Or see an authorized PacTel Teletrac dealer and drive home the peace of mind you need. Fine Print: [blah blah blah] [guarantee valid two years from date of purchase. No cash value.] [blah blah blah] END OF COPY The photos in the ad show the front fender/tire of a red sports car, but not enough to identify it. The reflection in the hub cap is of a Plantation-Style home. Obviously appealing to an upscale market. They also show a drawing of a "radar" type screen with city streets and little blip with a circle around it. Presumably your car being driven away by thieves. Finally, they show two men and one woman, staring intently at a bank of monitors, while wearing some sort of headsets. In addition to the technical details of how this works, I'm interested in how the alarm is triggered, and how mad the first person will be that gets pulled over by police after a malfunction. Finally, can this thing be activated remotely? How accurate is the tracking mechanism? Gordon R. Meyer CIS: 72307,1502 Internet: 72307.1502@compuserve.com GEnie: GRMEYER ------------------------------ From: Dan Veditz Subject: Feds seek customer records on "Grow-lamps" Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 11:56:00 PDT An AP story in today's paper (21 Aug 1992) date-lined San Francisco states that Federal prosecutors sought court orders yesterday to force three local businesses to turn over their customer lists, sales receipts and shipping records for indoor "Growing lights" since the start of 1990. They also want copies of any correspondence mentioning marijuana. The three companies--Diamond Lights, General Hydroponics, and Berkeley Indoor Garden Center--refused to turn over the documents without a court order and are now fighting the court order on the grounds that the request was too broad and would violate customer privacy. From their names I'd guess these businesses sell lots of "grow-lamps"; with the increasing use of sales-registers that record customer identification along with each sale how long until the government starts investigating people who innocently buy a few of these lamps from the local K-mart, or any other item that might just possibly be used in some sort of illegal activity? -Dan Veditz ------------------------------ End of Computer Privacy Digest V1 #072 ******************************