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    Heskett Column - Did Consumer Behavior Tracking Come of Age on September 11? Readers Respond

     
    1/7/2002

    'Privacy' and, for that matter, 'security' are and have always been illusions.

    9/11 was not a 'tipping point' for the general fear of loss of privacy. 9/11 did provide a 'tipping point' for a greater awareness of what the concept of privacy entails, like Plato's prisoners discovering that they had been observing and talking about shadows as opposed to the objects themselves.

    While it is likely that the public will accept or even promote operations and systems that will further reduce their own notions of the value of privacy, it is equally likely that the public will begin to understand that, really, only the motivation for reducing privacy in a public manner has changed.

    Rick Kennedy
    Project Manager, emplive.com

    I think it's about time all electronic data is properly monitored. There are innumerable ways illegal activities can be carried out using the Internet and the present "state of the art, flexible" banking methods. We chose the information age and with it comes a price: privacy. If monitoring is a good way to provide security, so be it. Besides, I've got nothing to hide.
    Robin Chacko
    Engineer, Tata Technologies

    If Americans enhance their ability to look outward and recognize that other countries are heavily automated and consequently, it would appear, 'controlled,' they will learn that control and transparency are OK, as long as you have nothing to hide and those using the data are honest and trustworthy. Look at Enron and tell me that more control and transparency would have not been welcome...
    Anonymous

    Chat rooms and corporate message boards have had a much more profound change on the privacy of business organizations than the tragic events of 9/11.

    The ultimate legacy of 9/11 is the lingering sense of uncertainty that will surround our professional and personal lives.

    Michael Gorman
    Senior Product Manager, Black & Decker U.S., Inc.
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