WASHINGTON — Scott McNealy once vexed privacy activists by claiming that "you have zero privacy anyway -- get over it."
Now the Sun Microsystems CEO is saying that "absolute privacy is a disaster waiting to happen."
In an opinion published in The Washington Post this week, McNealy said it would be "a mistake" to dismiss the benefits of sharing information, citing medical records that should be forwarded to your doctor and vehicle location information after an accident.
Predicts McNealy: "Someday soon you could find yourself in a strange city and your Web-enabled wireless phone will be able to recommend a nearby restaurant based on your fondness for French, Italian or Mexican cuisine -- and then make your reservation for you. It could even recommend a movie based on what you liked and didn't like in the past."
His essay is designed to persuade legislators to think twice about enacting broad laws that could cost U.S. firms tens of billions of dollars in compliance costs and drive struggling companies out of business.
McNealy has a point: When consumers are shopping for something, they have the option to take their business to companies that are sufficiently privacy-protective -- that is, if they even care.
Editor's note: We are replacing the regularly-scheduled pro-privacy diatribe with an anti-privacy plea. We regret any distress this may cause to regular readers. Our regulary-scheduled paranoia will return next week. Thank you.
Spies on us: John Alejandro King's first mistake was developing a sense of humor while working at the CIA.
His second mistake was writing a book of hideously bad poetry poking fun at his colleagues. Part of it is online at covertcomic.com.
King says the CIA finds his self-described "book" tasteless and claims that his job has been repeatedly imperiled by his out-of-office jokes.
This isn't the first time that King has had a run-in with the spy bureaucracy. The New York Daily News reported in 1999 that the CIA was hardly amused at his website, which features unflattering descriptions of other spooks.
Some of his better tales -- the bulk of his writing is not worth the time -- include the FBI official who believes he's the son of Jesus Christ, the military intelligence operative who runs a lucrative porn ring and the female CIA agent who keeps a harem of male sex slaves.
Children's privacy: A California state appeals court said this week that children's privacy should trump the right to a free press.
In the course of covering a story about adult coaches who sexually abused youngsters, Sports Illustrated and HBO ran photographs of a little league team in California. The team's manager had pled guilty to molesting five children in the league.
Members of the team -- 10 players and coaches -- sued the media outlets' parent company, AOL-Time Warner, on the usual grounds of invasion of privacy and emotional harm.
AOL-Time Warner said in response that this was a SLAPP suit, meaning one designed to inhibit free speech. The trial court disagreed with the media conglomerate, and now the appeals court has too, so the case continues.
The appeals court said that a 1989 Supreme Court case, Florida Star v. B.J.F., does not apply since the people in the photographs were minors. In that decision, the high court said newspapers could publish a rape victim's name that was legally obtained from a police report.
Sex spam ban: Proposed sex spam rules go too far, says the Center for Democracy and Technology.
In a policy post this week, CDT said that so-called anti-spam laws in Congress threaten free speech and won't even work that well.
The House Judiciary committee last week approved a bill that promises a fine and a one-year prison term to anyone who e-mails an advertisement relating to sex without including a special advisory, which would be drafted by the attorney general.
Says CDT: "Such a provision creates the threat of forced speech and stigmatizes potentially beneficial and lawful, though adult, speech. It also gives the Justice Department broad discretion to determine what is acceptable bulk mail and what is not."
Next week: The Electronic Privacy Information Center is organizing a briefing at the National Press Club on Monday. The topic is "Emerging Issues in Cyberspace Law," including jurisdiction and privacy.... America's Future Foundation is hosting an intellectual property debate on Thursday.... Tim Muris, currently a professor at George Mason University, starts his new job as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. He did not respond to requests for an interview.... And Congress returns from the Memorial Day recess.
