Re: New law concerning electronic commerce

[Todd Boyle]

At 12:56 PM 2/21/02, Jens Müller wrote:
> In Germany, there is (effective from 2002-01-01) a change in the BGB
> (Civil Code) implementing a EU directive "on certain aspects of
> electronic commerce".
>
> It has certain requirements on the processing of electronic orders
> etc.
>
> Furthermore, the new TDDSG (Teledienstedatenschutzgesetz - Law on
> Privacy in Online Services) requires that the user agrees in
> processing and storing of his personal data.

One should always be aware that the State is acting primarily
on behalf of itself and its instruments, Corporations which they
invented, which are extensions of government and are the
foundation of government finance.

Accumulating information about the people you deal with,
is a well established practice and a right, long before the
internet, and it is of course the foundation of any decentralization
of systems of credit and reputation.  When there is any system
for reliably determining a comprehensive picture of people's
history of dealings with the economy, then, that will be the
end of banks.  Of COURSE.    Your signature alone will be
sufficient for purchases.  You won't need to rent your reputation
from a credit card company. And god help you, if you don't pay
your obligations.  :-)   That's the way it SHOULD be.

But, governments all over the world (who routinely ignore vast
areas of human rights) are OH so sensitive to protect your
rights to privacy, by preventing reputation systems.  The other
big constituency for this nauseating "privacy" trend:  banks,
who are suffering losses from their obsolete credit card and
payment systems, invented the term "Identity theft" as if the
main victim was the individual depositor.. barf.

And the other group behind these "privacy" laws are the
large number of wealthy and elite classes, who need to prevent
public understanding or disclosure of their business dealings.

Real individuals are not screaming about privacy in the accumulation
of marketing information.  They are screaming about things
that directly injure them on the internet: SPAM, and the plague
of trojans, viruses, hackers and intrusion.  And we are screaming
about the automatic, wholesale monitoring of our private emails
and other activities by *governments*.

So, here is a bronx cheer for government privacy protections.  Give
us secure platforms, and authentication.  That's all we need.

Todd