Slashdot Mirror
FTC Warns Site Not To Sell Personal Data
itwbennett writes "The US Federal Trade Commission has warned two people associated with a now-defunct magazine and Web site for gay teens and young men that they would violate the privacy promises the publication made to subscribers by selling their personal information during a bankruptcy proceeding. The FTC, in a letter sent earlier this month, also suggested that the owners of XY Magazine and XY.com would be violating the privacy standards the company had in place before shutting down if they used the subscribers' personal information in a relaunch of the magazine or website. The personal information is listed as part of the debtor's estate in a New Jersey bankruptcy proceeding for Peter Ian Cummings, editor and founder of the magazine. Before the magazine's demise, many of the subscribers lived at home with parents."
Is that a stage name ;-)?
Most teenagers shouldn't have anything to worry about because responsible parents will have programs like Cyber Patrol and CYBERsitter installed to prevent their children and teenagers from accessing these sexually oriented sites. It's funny because under the Australian Internet filter this type of situation wouldn't even be an issue.
[I'll spell this out early on here. I am not a Troll, just offering some political sarcasm, thank you very much. Remember, your Nanny loves you and only wants what's best for YOU].
Even the submission says it's because the company in question had privacy policies in place prior to going bankrupt. They would be violatinig said policies if they give away or sell the data. Listing it as 'assets' in bankrupcy court when they weren't supposed to sell it in the first place was a mistake by them.
The Selective Service has no such polcies.
Bah. Stop trying to invent a new /. meme. It's not even funny.
I'll be buggered if I enter my personal details on a gay teens website!
And this same news was posted expect for the fact that the magazine was substituted with website. "Before the website's demise, many of the subscribers lived at home with parents."
Self-debasing humor aside, you have rather a significant difference between a site like Slashdot selling out, and a magazine for gay teens.
Most notably, paying for and receiving a physical magazine means the company has your name, CC info, and physical address; Slashdot has a dynamic IP address, a largely anonymous handle, a throwaway contact email address that likely filled with spam and died at least five years ago, and knows my default comment threshold.
Not to mention, society doesn't stigmatize geekdom (these days) quite the same way it does homosexuality. Although I find the Slashdot crowd far more tolerant of such issues than the general public, our "perverse love" of technology rarely gets us lynched.
"Before the magazine's demise, many of the subscribers lived at home with parents."
And this changed how exactly after the bankrupcy of the magazine?
Maybe a bankrupcy of slashdot would be a good thing for the readers too ...
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"The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
The FTC has actually filed civil lawsuits against multiple companies that the agency thought didn't live up to their privacy promises. The FTC sees the act of breaking privacy promises as a deceptive trade practice that's outlawed in the FTC Act.
Grant Gross, Washington reporter, IDG News Service
Well, think positively. As more and more people grow up with CS and clones and other online games, soon we'll have a whole generation who thinks "gay" means "got more than one kill with a sniper rifle" or "won the roll on a piece of loot you wanted too".
And for that matter than "I fucked your mom" is the new "good morning, sir. How do you do?" I can imagine a business meeting in 2020 going something like:
CEO: "And now Mr Stevens the VIP of marketing will present the results from the latest market poll."
Stevens: "I fucked your moms, ladies and gentlemen."
Chorus: "Your mom's fat."
Stevens: "As you can see on this graph, after our latest PR campaign, our brand recognition has risen by almost 20% and the sales by nearly 10%."
PHB from the audience: "Dude, you're gay."
Stevens: "Thank you."
At any rate, they'll probably think that having been subscribed to a gay magazine is like subscribing to some gaming tricks site ;)
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
No one is trying to prevent people from exercising their civil rights. They are, however, trying to prevent people from perverting an existing institution designed to build families.
So would you be in favour of prohibiting the marriage of heterosexual persons who do not plan on raising children?
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time