Westchester Assemblyman Richard Brodsky has drafted a bill, now gathering support in Albany, that would make it a crime — punishable by a fine to be determined — for certain Web companies to use personal information about consumers for advertising without their consent. The New York Times has an article here that explains the proposed law and how important this issue really is. Already, major corporate dollars are being spent to portray Assemblyman Brodsky’s bill as an election year effort to get votes, but after being in Albany since ’82, New Yorkers know better.
The story is that new companies are creating really slick methods to follow you around the web, and selling your data to anyone who wants to pay them for it. The problem here is that you won’t even know they are doing it, nor will you benefit from it, with the exception of having ads placed based on your web browsing history. ISP’s will make a real killing on your click history. They can share your account history based on your clicks. As to who would buy the data besides marketers, experts warn that it would be just a matter of time before the data would be sold for a large profit to heavy hitters. Insurance companies or banks could and would buy this click history, either directly or as part of an optimized data mining program. This is the mother of all Privacy issues.
Click to E-Mail Assemblyman Brodsky and show him your support. Tell him he’s the Privacy Champion and to keep up the good work.
South Park kicked off it’s 12th season last night with an episode that highlighted, among other things, the suckage that is Jimmy Buffet. It all transpires when Eric Cartman goes into the hospital for a routine tonsillectomy and winds up contracting the HIV virus. We later see Cartman and his mom sitting at an Aids benefit concert where Elton John is scheduled to perform, but backs out at the last minute and is replaced by the owner of Margarita Holdings LLC:
It’s refreshing to know that SP creators Parker & Stone feel the same way I do about this man, or at least about his music. I f cking hate his music so much that I even lied to my sister on her deathbed when I promised that I would fulfill her dying wish of spreading her ashes in Key West whilst simultaneously drinking a margarita and playing Jimmy Buffet songs. The best I could do for her was Jacksonville Beach and a few screwdrivers afterwards. In fact, my personal hatred for Buffet stems from living in Florida several years ago, and witnessing first hand the effects he has on potheads, frat boys and drunken women of all ages. I distinctly remember being in a bar once when a horde of douchey Buffet fans came streaming in, all wearing dorky hats and beer & vomit encrusted Hawaiian shirts, singing Buffet songs at the top of their lungs and passing around a gigantic inflated penis for everyone to sign (no, I’m not making this up). When the penis came to me I pulled a pen put of my purse and wrote on it “Jimmy Buffet Fans Suck”.
Parrottheads
Now before you militant Parrotheads go blowing out your flip flops, keep in mind that any negative comments form you will not be approved, so you can go ahead and send your hate mail and death threats to someone else.
Sir Paul announced that the Beatles will finally sign up for an ITunes contract worth near $400 million. It was also reported that after he pays off all the blood-sucking, goldbricking, worn-out Beatles groupie’s he stands to make about $3.50. People waiting with hat in hand include Michael Jackson, EMI, Sony, and Heather.
Also a big part of the deal, Apple Computer and The Apple Corps finally settled the lawsuit started in 1978 over the trademarked Apple logo this February, 30 years after it was started. EMI, who had habitually ripped off the Fab Poor for the last 3 decades, also settled another trademark suit worth millions. Either way, if Led Zeppelin and Tull crashed the ITunes server when they released, I can only ‘Imagine all the People’.
Up in Brattleboro Vermont, voters finally have decided that enough is enough and passed a law to have The President of the United States arrested if he ever came into the town. Kurt Daims, 54, of Brattleboro, the organizer of the drive, said the issue was a good one. Daims, a retired prototype machinist and stay-at-home dad of three daughters, felt time was high to show those no-good sonsofbitches in Washington that Vermont won’t stand for a President who ignores their state. So far, Vermont is the only state Bush hasn’t visited since he became president in 2001, and it looks like he won’t be visiting anytime soon.
Meanwhile, the State Democrats voted overwhelming for Barak Obama in the Primary Tuesday, and voters were promised that if he didn’t win the big one, state leaders would vote to secede from the Union, create a smaller, less toxic, user friendly country and have Barak assume command.
