BL> As for internet cafes, public libraries, etc... don't you have
BL> to sign your name and identify yourself when you log on?
BL> Perhaps your library hasn't introduced thenew rules yet...
BL> access only by use of your library card.

JB> they want your library card for their statistics, so that when
JB> they want to ask for more funds next year they can show the
JB> bean counters how prooductive they've been. 

 If that was all they needed, they could get it from their IP bill.
Statistics do not require *identification*, just numbers.

JB> I've seen coin-operated internet terminals.

 Yes, and I'm waiting for government to introduce some new "kiddie
porn" or "motherhood" regulation to make Internet Cafes get identity.
I liked the kiddie porn approach, where they made the IP himself
responsible for porn on his server!

 I can look back on 60 years. I remember the forties quite clearly,
and the three things that stand out are our inceased affluence, the
incredible jump in technology after WWII, and the sly erosion of our
freedom. When I started work in the late fifties, you could buy a
rifle at the local barber shop. Now, we have the insane situation
where an Olympic gold medallist is denied his shotgun because he has a
fight with his girlfriend... while every gang-banger Lebbo in
Bankstown has his own 9mm pistol. The law has become weaker, allowing
criminals a free go, while restricting the law-abiding.

 I see that Willie Brigitte the terrorist is about to be released in
France, because his extradition was illegal. Back in the sixties, two
cops would have verballed him, planted some evidence, put him away for
fifty years, then got someone like Neddie Smith to kill him in prison.
The law used to work... now we have incredibly restrictive laws that
only work for the law-abiding!

AC>> If everyone knew that in the back of their minds that every
AC>> online purchase they ever made could be tracked back to them,
AC>> I've no doubt there would be less online trade.

BL> And what else are cookies?

JB> Cookies are online ID, but they're only available (and,
JB> generally, only meaningfull) to the site that issued them. 

 Which site then *sells* the information to a list company... which
onsells the list to its clients, to harrass the poor bastard with the
cookies.

Regards,
Bob
          

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