Screaming privacy headlines and publicity around other cyberethics snafus are spurring new-breed technologies and hammering home the moneymaking aspects of responsible IT.

This week, the industry will see the launch of a start-up's service that company officials claim to be one of the first ever methods for consumers to complete each phase of an ecommerce order entirely anonymously, right up until the product lands on the doorstep.

InfoWorld - How technology can preserve our privacy. For all the complaining we've heard from industry on how privacy regulation will stifle the development of e-commerce, we haven't seen a lot of technical innovation to address the issue. Certainly the government's latest initiatives -- notably the FBI's creepy Carnivore eavesdropping plan -- can be cause for concern. Similarly, the controversy surrounding the marketing of failed dot-coms' customer information databases demonstrate a real lack of coordination between state and federal agencies.

DesMoinesRegister.com | News - Woman says MCI invaded privacy.

A West Des Moines woman contends that her ex-husband tracked her down and threatened her after MCI WorldCom gave out her phone number and other information.

Peggy Hill, 33, is suing the long-distance company in federal court in Des Moines. The lawsuit says her ex-husband in Georgia called MCI at least 10 times in June 1999 asking for her billing information and the numbers she had called.

Computerworld (IDG) - French company Bull exposes customer data.

InfoWorld - Feeling secure? Numerous resources can help you protect your online privacy.

The basic problem is that until a critical mass understands how public its information really is on the Internet and decides that privacy is important enough to protect, then the majority won't use the technology. Public key encryption, the building block that PGP and such products are built on, has been around for years. It works great, makes your e-mail virtually impossible to break in to, and isn't that tough to set up.

Perhaps people don't realize that all of their e-mails are shooting around the Internet in plain text, as easy for anyone to access and read as this story is. Your e-mail is open to anyone who has access to any site on the path between the sender and receiver to download, read, or save.

The Register (UK) - FBI warns Congress: foreign telecomms may inhibit wiretaps.

Strategy (Canadian Marketing Report) - Online privacy laws all over the map.

MS-NBC - Carnivore to get new name.

In an effort to polish the image of the FBI's controversial e-mail monitoring system, Carnivore, Attorney General Janet Reno said today that the FBI will change the program's name. Reno also said that an independent review of Carnivore is going forward, in an effort to reassure a skeptical Congress and civil liberties groups that the program doesn't infringe on the privacy rights of citizens.

The deadline for proposals from outside organizations wishing to review Carnivore is past and a selection team is reviewing applications, Reno said. Several universities have rebuffed requests from the Justice Department to submit review proposals, citing unreasonable constraints set out in the review guidelines.

Wall Street Journal (09/07/00) P. B8; via ACM News Service - "FBI Gets Web Guru Cerf's Support for Carnivore". Sounds to me like he has lost his Guru status. From the little that is known about the Carnivore system, its trustworthyness depends on how it is feed its parameters. Searches can be expanded. Data can be modified.

Slashdot | Vinton Cerf Says Carnivore Source Best Left Closed. Sounds like Vinton fell for the FBI's line of 'Trust Us'

New York Times - free registration required One Consulting Firm Finds Voter Data Is a Hot Property.

Aristotle now has the nation's largest repository of registered voters, including their names, addresses, telephone numbers, party affiliation and frequency of voting. Aristotle blends this data with information from other sources -- the Internet and commercial vendors that sell personal data -- to provide office- seekers with even more detailed voter profiles, including information about their cars, ethnicity, incomes, employers and up to 25 other factors.

Of particular concern this election season, when electronic privacy has become a significant issue, is Aristotle's ability to help transmit "pop- up" campaign advertisements to specific voters using the Internet.