Wednesday
(4)Lastminute founder Martha Lane Fox admitted to a little indiscretion. The dotcom kept a record of all men who had ordered red roses for Valentine's Day 2002 and then sent them an email this year asking if they'd like to do the same thing.
Lane Fox revealed that, since some ended up going to home email addresses, the result was "quite a few phone calls from wives who didn't get any flowers from their husbands last year, demanding to know where we'd sent them".
Now we know why exactly is data collection bad. Sod privacy and civil liberties - there is a threat of confronting wives 'foxed' over missing flowers...
Sounds to me like a lot of women are regularly opening e-mail addressed to their husbands. Funny how indignant many women get if men violate their privacy.
Posted by mark at March 5, 2003 01:51 PM
People who use the web, ATMs or cell phones should know that they thereby give up some of their privacy. It is a good trade probably, but no whining later.
Posted by Jacob at March 5, 2003 03:04 PM
Well, after that happens, I suppose we know we do give up some privacy.
That could apply to other stuff, though... I once was with a long-term girlfriend who unprecedentedly stayed out all night, and was extremely aggressive with me in the morning when I asked with genuine concern if she had been all right. The way she acted prompted me to look at her diary for the first time ever, and verified that she had indeed fucked someone else.
I'm not sure if "keep a diary and you give up some privacy" would have worked very well with her, Jacob! After all, I had promised never to read it.
But privacy is easy enough to ensure with the web if you're careful, so we shouldn't complain, you're right.
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Posted by mark at March 5, 2003 05:04 PM
I have visions of wives opening itemised road bills from Patrick Crozier's privatised road network.
"What were you doing in Bognor when you said you were at a conference in Milton Keynes?"
Posted by Tim Hall at March 5, 2003 07:27 PM
An alternate answer also, don't sleep around on your wife.
Duh
Posted by John at March 6, 2003 07:11 AM
I've never cheated on or lied to a wife or girlfriend, and I still don't want other people reading my mail.
Posted by mark at March 6, 2003 03:46 PM
A lot of families have a joint email account. Work email(s) and then one home email, just like one home phone. An email sent to a generic home address and saying something along the lines of "Greetings! you bought X red roses last year for valentine's day -- do you want to do the same this year?" can clearly be read without any idea of spousal invasion of privacy.
Diaries -- in the form of journals, that is, and not meaning a datebook kept by the phone or anything -- are a different question.
Posted by Adrianne Truett at March 7, 2003 12:47 PM
