AOL and Privacy in Inter@ctive Week

[-=kgr(at)rmi(dot)net=-]

I found these three articles to be quite interesting ... especially in
combination.

AOL Stops Tracking Surfing Habits
http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/daily/980608h.html

AOL buys Mirabilis for $287M
http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/daily/980608j.html

Can Mirabilis Be as a Web Portal?
http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/daily/980609f.html

First, AOL says they will stop targeting ads to individuals based on
profiles built by tracking their movements online. Now, that is a
real concession for AOL, the same people that were selling this
information to spammers before.

Then they buy Mirabilis for more than a quarter of a Billion Dollars.

Then their chairman makes this statement:
"The question for us is not just acquiring ICQ for what it is today,"
AOL Chairman Steve Case said. "It is what ICQ can become in our
efforts to expand on the Web."

This leads me to wonder what sorts of information can Mirabilis ICQ
gather on almost 12 Million subscribers ???

Konrad Roeder

To e-mail me, use this address: kgr<at>rmi<dot>net
and don't hit reply .. It will just bounce on you.

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