[Reader-list] downloads and privacy

[Monica Narula]

I hat to be replicating material but i am hoping this cross posting 
is from a not so common list :) (the replicating meme, hopefully not 
auto-toxic...) Here is Josephine Bosma's text from the mediafest list.

cheers
Monica


maybe its common knowledge, but maybe some of you are interested:

"As you will see on the page below, if you use the RealNetworks
RealDownload, Netscape/AOL Smart Download, or NetZip Download Demon
utilities in their default configuration . . .

EVERY TIME you use one of these utilities to download ANY FILE from
ANYWHERE on the Internet, the complete "URL address" of the file, along
with a UNIQUE ID TAG that has been assigned to YOUR machine, and in
the case of Netscape's SmartDownload only YOUR computer's individual
Internet IP address, is immediately transmitted to the program's
publisher.

This allows a database of your entire, personal, file download history
to be assembled and uniquely associated with your individual computer .
. . for whatever purpose the program's publishers may have today, or
tomorrow.

VERY IMPORTANT: When I re-examined my findings in the face of
RealNetworks' insistence that I was absolutely wrong about my
conclusions, I caught something that I had missed before: My exact
personal name and private eMail address was being sent back to
RealNetworks whenever I downloaded a file."

look for the rest of this text on:

http://grc.com/downloaders.htm

-- 
Monica Narula
Sarai:The New Media Initiative
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054
www.sarai.net