Date: Sat, 11 Mar 95 13:11:43 EST
Errors-To: Comp-privacy Error Handler <owner-comp-privacy@uwm.edu>
From: Computer Privacy Digest Moderator <comp-privacy@uwm.edu>
To: Comp-privacy@uwm.edu
Subject: Computer Privacy Digest V6#026
Computer Privacy Digest Sat, 11 Mar 95 Volume 6 : Issue: 026
Today's Topics: Moderator: Leonard P. Levine
Re: Use of Mailboxes
Re: Use of Mailboxes
Credit Files and Letters
Re: Proving your Citizenship
Re: The IRS and INS
Re: SSN Question
Re: SSN Question
Re: SSN Question
SSNumber Vs National Insurance Number
Research Paper
Re: More on Junk e-Mail
Research Paper
Hello From Merry Old
Info on CPD [unchanged since 12/29/94]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: aja@gmr.com (Andrew J. Allen)
Date: 08 Mar 1995 20:32:27 GMT
Subject: Re: Use of Mailboxes
Organization: Cadillac World Headquarters
Finally, the post office must abide by all postal regulations (eg,
they cannot accept personal checks, they cannot just trash first
class mail
Would someone please explain this to me. I purchase stamps at my local
postoffice with a personal check quite regularly.
--
*---------------------------------------------------------------*
| aja@cad.vmss.gmeds.com | Opinions are my own and do not |
| EDS/Cadillac World HQ | necessarily reflect those of my |
| 30009 Van Dyke | employer or customer. |
| P.O. Box 9025 |--------------------------------------*
| Warren MI 48090-9025 | Advise given without warranty. |
*---------------------------------------------------------------*
| Any suficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from |
| magic. A. C. Clarke |
*---------------------------------------------------------------*
------------------------------
From: kinkale@quincy.edu (Lee Kinkade)
Date: 09 Mar 1995 10:06:02 -0600
Subject: Re: Use of Mailboxes
Organization: Quincy University
I had considerable trouble with the local Post Office and our on campus
Mail. We live in an apartment on campus, and all our mail is addressed
to the street address of out apartment, no mention of our on campus box
number, or the univesity's name appears on our mail. Even so, it would
be delivered to the on campus box anyway. This meant that when no one
was in the college offices we did not recieve our mail. As this is the
only place I recieve mail, this was terrible, especially at semester
break around Chritsmas.
We asked that our mail be sent to our apartment, which did have a mail
box, but the local Post Master told us that the College owned the
property where our apartment was and could have the mail to it routed
to any location they wished and that any landlord could have all the
mail to any of their properties routed to a different address even if
the mail was not addressed to them.
Our situation was settled when the Dean of Students theatened the Post
Master with having all on Campus Mail delivered to the individual
street addresses. THe Post Master finally gave in and delivered our
mail to our apartment's mail box.
Is the Post Master Correct? I could not believe this, but that is the
story we were given more than once.
--
kinkale@shamino.quincy.edu | "vi,vi,vi editor of the beast."---A.E.M
"If you don't want to know the answer, don't ask the question." ---D.L.K.
------------------------------
From: ggaldia@utdallas.edu (George)
Date: 02 Mar 1995 09:33:14 -0600
Subject: Credit Files and Letters
Organization: UTD
I created form letters and spreadsheets for my own use to contact
companies to remove my name from mailing lists and for credit companies
to request and correct my credit file.
I was wondering if you think anyone else would find this useful and
what FTP site would be a good place to post it.
Thanks.
[moderator, the files were added to the CPD z-library subdirectory and
can be reached via gopher, www or ftp, see material at the bottom of
this mailing in the "Info on CPD" posting.]
------------------------------
From: khinedi@bu.edu (Kareem Hinedi)
Date: 09 Mar 1995 05:39:04 GMT
Subject: Re: Proving your Citizenship
Organization: Boston University
Dominic-Luc Webb (dominic@enk.ks.se) wrote: The problem here is the
number of Americans, especially younger ones who, like me had a
terrible time trying to prove legitimate citizenship, who must wait
many years to get a job because of the requirement to prove
citizenship.
Usually, all you need is a birth certificate, or certificate of
naturalization, or consular report of foreign birth of US citizen.
With one of those documents, you can get a US passport. A US passport
proves you are a citizen. (actually, the first documents do as well,
but they don't have photos so they are not as easily used).
Is the same thing going to happen with this. There are a lot of
Americans who simply cannot prove citizenship.
Please explain how you cannot prove you are a US citizen ?
--
Kareem A. Hinedi
Boston University School of Public Health
E-Mail: khinedi@bu.edu
------------------------------
From: tdonahue@LightStream.COM (Tim Donahue)
Date: 09 Mar 95 07:58:57 EST
Subject: Re: The IRS and INS
wrf@ecse.rpi.edu (Wm. Randolph U Franklin) said: Concerning what
info the INS has, someone reported (here?) that when he arrived at
Toronto airport from Europe and then drove to the US, at the border
they knew that he'd just arrived at Toronto.
In June of 1989 or 1990 I was returning to Boston from Montreal by
car. The border crossing I used on this trip had a relatively small
customs / immigration checkpoint. After taking my driver's license,
the INS officer disappeared for a moment, reappeared, and asked if I'd
been to Arizona recently.
At first this seemed like one of the strangest questions I'd ever
heard, given the circumstances and the questioner. "No", I replied.
But a little voice in the back of my head said "wait a minute", and
then I remembered that I'd spent four days in Phoenix just two weeks
before. After correcting myself, the officer said "thank you" and off
I went.
I'm pretty certain I'm not a very interesting individual from a customs
/ INS perspective. I concluded that the INS must have received
notification from the airline I flew for that trip and made it appear
in some database within 10 days.
Big brother is watching you.
--
Tim
------------------------------
From: Peter Szmyt <szmyt@simware.com>
Date: 09 Mar 1995 16:28:32 GMT
Subject: Re: SSN Question
Organization: FONOROLA Incorporated
gmcgath@condes.MV.COM (Gary McGath) wrote: Recently a magazine sent
me a set of writer's guidelines, which contained the following
remarkable (to me, anyway) claim: "Please understand that, by law,
we can not send payment for an article until we have your personal
information including your social security number." Does anyone
know if this is true?
This seems extremely unlikely. I'm a Canadian and have written for US
magazines. They don't ask for my Social Insurance Number (SIN), and
even if they did, what possible use would it be?
This doesn't directly answer you question about the law though.
__________________________________________________________________________
Peter Szmyt, User Interaction Designer, Simware & Chair, Ottawa ACM SIGCHI
Email: szmyt@simware.com Phone: (613) 228-5100 x4029 Fax: (613) 727-9409
2 Gurdwara Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2E 1A2
------------------------------
From: wmccarth@t4fsa-gw.den.mmc.com (Wil McCarthy)
Date: 09 Mar 1995 17:42:44 GMT
Subject: Re: SSN Question
Organization: Martin Marietta Corporation
gmcgath@condes.MV.COM (Gary McGath) writes: Recently a magazine
sent me a set of writer's guidelines, which contained the following
remarkable (to me, anyway) claim: "Please understand that, by law,
we can not send payment for an article until we have your personal
information including your social security number."
This requirement stems from the fact that publishers have to withold
taxes from payments to an author if they pay him more than $600 in a
year, and as of 1994 I believe they have to file a 1099-MISC on you for
"information purposes" if they pay you anything at all. IRS has no
repect for your privacy.
--
The ideal state provides its Wil McCarthy (wmccarth@t4fsa-gw)
citizens with the tools to succeed Martin Marietta Corporation
and the freedom to fail. I made this stuff up myself.
(author of many books and stories)
------------------------------
From: dskidmo@halcyon.com (Don Skidmore)
Date: 11 Mar 1995 00:46:29 GMT
Subject: Re: SSN Question
Organization: The Lone Net-Surfer :-) !
gmcgath@condes.MV.COM says... Recently a magazine sent me a set of
writer's guidelines, which contained the following remarkable (to
me, anyway) claim: "Please understand that, by law, we can not send
payment for an article until we have your personal information
including your social security number." Does anyone know if this is
true? Is there actually a law prohibiting a party to a contract
from making due payment (or should I say: entitling it to back out
of its obligation) if the government fails to get its tax
information?
I am not an expert, but it most likely IS true. They need your
taxpayer ID number (aka SSN) to report what they paid you to the IRS.
This has to be a direct violation of the Constitutional clause that
forbids impairment of contractual obligations; but I realize that
the Constitution has long since ceased to be any kind of barrier to
the government.
The constitution gets interpreted pretty broadly when the tax laws are
at issue.
--
__ __ _ __ | Just my opinion? You bet!
___/ /__ / /__ (_)__/ /_ _ ___ | dskidmo@halcyon.com
/ _ (_-</ '_// / _ / ' \/ _ \ | dskidmo@eskimo.com
\_,_/___/_/\_\/_/\_,_/_/_/_/\___/ | Bellevue, Washington USA
------------------------------
From: cm5585@scitsc.wlv.ac.uk (J.Tench)
Date: 10 Mar 1995 18:11:41 -0000
Subject: SSNumber Vs National Insurance Number
Organization: University of Wolverhampton, U.K.
Is the USA Social Security Number, something akin to our (UK) National
Insurance Number, if yes (or no really) what body of peoples ask to see
it. If no, then what is it exactly.
--
~)~. ~)~ _ _ |_ || || ||\ || || || \\ //
(_/ / /') / (' / ) (_ | ) || || ||\\|| || || )X(
Wolverhampton Polyversity ||__| || || \|| \\_// // \\
E_MAIL cm5585@scitsc.wlv.ac.uk UNIX++
------------------------------
From: eleavell1@VAXA.HOFSTRA.EDU
Date: 08 Mar 1995 20:53:48 EST
Subject: Research Paper
Organization: Hofstra University
I am doing a research paper on information systems and technology in
the workplace, focusing on the ethical use of systems and technology.
I want to gather responses to a few questions:
1. Should information systems monitor employees?
2. Do employees have a right to privacy in their use of business
technology and systems?
Any comments or suggestions?
Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond.
------------------------------
From: sgs@access.digex.net (Steve Smith)
Date: 09 Mar 1995 11:59:18 -0500
Subject: Re: More on Junk e-Mail
Organization: Agincourt Computing
Bill Hefley <weh@SEI.CMU.EDU> wrote: I was really amazed to see the
news blurb about Worldata (http://www.worldata.com/), a Florida
company, that claims to be able to send as many as a million and a
half e-mail messages to its list of compiled e-mail addresses --
all for a mere 8 to 10 cents a message. They claim to be building
a suppression file for those who want to opt out, and also
guarantee that mailers won't be flamed. Gee, I wonder how they can
guarantee that? Unless they provide an anonymizing service (gee,
just think of the possibilities, anonymous e-mail for advertisers),
most people will be able to figure out who the advert is for, and
can flame the advertiser. But, maybe they're right, I might have to
pick up the phone to call and complain to the advertiser--that
isn't technically a flame, is it?
Simple. They hire a couple of $6/hour droids to read the responses and
screen out the flames. The advertisers will no more notice the flames
than they do with telemarketing. Of course when worldata's mail
partition fills up with copys of /unix ....
--
Steve Smith Agincourt Computing
sgs@access.digex.net (301) 681 7395
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."
------------------------------
From: "Karen Clark, SUNY ESC" <KCLARK%SNYESCVA.BITNET@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
Date: 09 Mar 1995 18:40:00 EDT
Subject: Research Paper
In regards to research paper questions on monitoring and privacy: I
believe tha t some monitoring of most computer systems probably already
occurs if for no other reason than to determine chargebacks for
computer use, troubleshoot system problems, check the efficient use of
system resources, preventative measures and determining future needs of
the system. In doing all this one is bound to come across at least
some misuse of the system, even if the inten- tion was not to check up
on one's employees. The possibility exists. Then what do you do?
Should monitoring of systems strictly for the purpose of checking up on
employees occur? I personally think only if evidence of improper use
has been found. But, I'm a fairly trusting individual.
Do employees have a right to privacy in their use of business
technology and systems? Some, but I don['t think people should fool
themselves into believing that their email for example, is purely their
own. Again, if abuse is evident, then the administrator certainly has
the right and the obligation to his/her employee to investigate the use
of the company's resourses. Can anyone agree with an analogy to using
company money to earn interest for yourself to this situation. If
personal rewards are gained then abuse is evident. Administrator s of
technology are employees of the company and have obligations to assure
the owners that their resources are used properly. If monitoring is
the only method one has to accomplish this, then it must be agreeable.
2 more points: it should be well documented and openly discussed that
monitoring is being done on the system and how much one can expect to
be monitored; secondly, I believe that some time ago I read somewhere
(sorry no reference) that during the Roseanne/Tom Arnold divorce email
was sent I think between Tom and another individual where details of
the divorce decree were revealed. When the news media got a hold of the
info, I believe a court decided that it was public info and they had a
right to publish. You'll have to check on this though - its just
coming from memory.
------------------------------
From: cm5585@scitsc.wlv.ac.uk (J.Tench)
Date: 10 Mar 1995 18:11:39 -0000
Subject: Hello From Merry Old
Organization: University of Wolverhampton, U.K.
This is my first browse through this group and I must say, I like it.
Well mostly, personally being from the UK I'd like to see postings from
other UK people, after all the internet is enjoying a lot of hype at
the moment, and is growing here at an astonishing rate. Surely
somebody has some invasions of privacy (computer related) to share, or
knows of somebody doing something they aughtn't to be. Come on, share
it with us and lets get a UK contribution to this group, up and
running.
Now for my main reason for posting, what exactly is this PGP sig stuff,
I keep seeing on the bottom of e-mails. Is it something to do with
Pretty Good Privacy, if so how do you establish the de-cryption key ??
ps. I will be reading this group in future...you are being watched ;-)
--
~)~. ~)~ _ _ |_ || || ||\ || || || \\ //
(_/ / /') / (' / ) (_ | ) || || ||\\|| || || )X(
Wolverhampton Polyversity ||__| || || \|| \\_// // \\
E_MAIL cm5585@scitsc.wlv.ac.uk UNIX++
[moderator: I choose the subject headers, not you, the blame/credit
is all mine.]
------------------------------
From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" <levine@blatz.cs.uwm.edu>
Date: 29 Dec 1994 10:50:22 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Info on CPD [unchanged since 12/29/94]
Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The Computer Privacy Digest is a forum for discussion on the effect of
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Submissions should be sent to comp-privacy@uwm.edu and administrative
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This digest is a forum with information contributed via Internet
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If you read this from the comp.society.privacy newsgroup and wish to
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Login as "ftp" with password identifying yourid@yoursite. The archives
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---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------
Leonard P. Levine | Moderator of: Computer Privacy Digest
Professor of Computer Science | and comp.society.privacy
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Post: comp-privacy@uwm.edu
Box 784, Milwaukee WI 53201 | Information: comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu
| Gopher: gopher.cs.uwm.edu
levine@cs.uwm.edu | Mosaic: gopher://gopher.cs.uwm.edu
---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------
------------------------------
End of Computer Privacy Digest V6 #026
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