Thousands of spammers know my email address, but they don't know a darned thing about me. I wish they would invade my privacy and realize that I will never, ever be interested in any of their "products" (I use that term loosely) -- then maybe they would leave me alone!

Humorix: The SSSCA Doesn't Go Far Enough.

We would like to take this opportunity to present our own revised version of this bill, which we've dubbed the SSSCA 2002. As you will see, this bill is a much better vehicle for protecting the children of starving artists, musicians, and programmers and making the world a better place.

LA Times - First Humans to Receive ID Chips.

Eight people will be injected with silicon chips Friday, making them scannable just like a jar of peanut butter in the supermarket checkout line.

[ ... ]

Applied Digital Solutions Inc., the maker of what it calls the VeriChip, says that it will soon have a prototype of a much more complex device, one that is able to receive GPS satellite signals and transmit a person's location.

It's a prospect deeply unsettling to privacy advocates, no matter how voluntary the process may initially appear.

"Who gets to decide who gets chipped?" asked Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "Parents will decide that their kids should be implanted, or maybe their own aging parents. It's an easier way to manage someone, like putting a leash on a pet."

Internet News / Developer News -- Platform for Privacy Preferences Forum Set for Tuesday .

As part of continuing efforts to strengthen privacy protections for Web users, government officials and online industry leaders will hold a forum on the Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) and its impact on Web sites and online privacy on May 14, 2002 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters in Washington, D.C. The event will include an expert panel discussing online privacy issues and the implications of P3P followed by a forum on what Web sites need to do to become P3P-compliant.

Chicago Tribune - Ameritech ordered to give customer data to rival This link is an indirect one via Moreover.com - Regitration is required and I haven't registered so I can't provide any interesting pull quotes from the article.

ISPreview - UK Internet Service Provider Info. Source - EU Invades Personal Privacy.

No surprises here, the civil liberties group Statewatch is reporting that EU governments are secretly drawing up snooping laws for the universal surveillance of telecoms:

Telecoms firms and Internet service providers across Europe will be forced to retain all telecommunications traffic data under new legislation that is being secretly written by a number of European governments, according to privacy advocates.

Statewatch, a UK Internet-based organisation that monitors threats to civil liberties within Europe, said on Wednesday that several European governments are deeply committed to bringing in universal surveillance of telecommunications within the European Union, despite strong opposition from the European Parliament.

CNET NEWS.COM - VeriSign, AOL partner on encrypted IM.

VeriSign and AOL Time Warner on Thursday announced a partnership to offer encoded chat messages through AOL Instant Messenger, the same day rival Microsoft warned IM users of a security hole in its own instant messaging service.

VeriSign will issue security credentials to corporations for authenticating employees who want to send and receive encrypted messages over AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), David Gang, a product strategy manager at AOL, said during VeriSign's analyst day.

Dubbed "Enterprise AIM," the service will go into beta testing before the end of May, Gang said.

Culture News from Wired News - Amy Grant Spams a Sour Note.

She may be just about the most popular Christian-music singer around, but the spam campaign by Amy Grant's record company might not be winning her many new fans.

Slashdot | German Elections Go Open Source.

PCWorld.com - Consumer Groups Protest Forced Spying. SonicBlue gets support in court, despite inactive privacy policy that permits user monitoring.

Privacy rights groups and consumer electronics firms are banding together to oppose a California federal court order that mandates tracking ReplayTV users' TV viewing habits to determine whether they violate copyright laws.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center calls the request "mind-boggling" and is drafting the amicus brief in support of SonicBlue's appeal.

"It is unprecedented that a judge would force a company to spy on its customers and hand over results to plaintiffs," says Megan Gray, senior counsel at EPIC. The organization expects to submit its position to the court early next week.

Consumer Electronics Association: Press Room - Studios' Demand for SonicBlue to Play "Big Brother" Violates Consumer Privacy and Stifles Innovation, Says CEA.

The following statement was issued today by Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) President and CEO Gary Shapiro in response to a federal court order forcing consumer electronics manufacturer SonicBlue to develop and install new software in consumers' personal video recorders (PVRs) that would collect all information about what shows the users watch, record or send to a select and limited group. SonicBlue would then be forced to provide the information to the studios suing the company for allegedly contributing to copyright infringement:

"George Orwell must be spinning in his grave. Indeed, movie studios would be wise to remember that Big Brother may work as a 'reality-based' television program - but not as a rule of law.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Consumer Groups Protest SonicBlue/ReplayTV Order.