Advocates, companies wrangle with Net privacy

 

latest developments

How much access to Internet users' data is too much? Privacy advocates and technology companies are waging battles to establish acceptable privacy policies. "We feel it is mission critical to the continued growth of the Internet that industry takes active steps to increase consumer confidence...regarding online privacy protections." - Steve Wadsworth, president, Buena Vista Internet Group

Privacy advocates target Abacus shareholders Advocates send a scathing letter to Abacus Direct shareholders asking them to derail the $1 billion proposed merger between the market researcher and Internet advertising firm DoubleClick. Go Network to enforce strict privacy policy Disney's Buena Vista Internet Group and Infoseek are the latest companies to use their advertising space and dollars as currency to insist that other sites post clear privacy policies. AOL quiets cell phone posts America Online's foray into the world of audio content has brought it a headache with the apparently illegal posting of cell phone conversations on one of its newly acquired sites. Microsoft pushes privacy at PC Expo Microsoft executive vice president Bob Herbold lays out his company's vision of the role of software in the digital future and announces new plans for ensuring user privacy on the Internet.