JimH, I'm not sure I like this question. You (well, your company) produces a media program for the PC, and you asking a question such as this is setting off a very loud klaxxon in my head. I have this image of JRiver sitting in deeply private meeting discussing a new "feature". Someone suggests the users won't like it, it raises privacy issues, so you post a vague question like this to see what kind of responses you get. kind of "let's shake the tree and see what falls down"
Calm my nerves and tell us, why are you asking? You're obviously an "internet aware" person, so you should already be aware of most of the pitfalls and sensible care of personal details?
One of the major plus points in MC's favour over the rest in the field is that you don't do that crap where you build personally identifiable software and then harvest info that says "player X plays a shedload of Nirvana" and so the e-mail associated with player X gets bombarded with spam encouraging them to buy the latest Nirvana re-hash or other from the genre.
Please don't do it. If you do do it, then give the end-user total control, ie. the ability to turn it off (after reading that bit back, I noticed that I just assumed that any such stuff would be on by default
)
I don't think the question can really be answered. It's purely a "feeling" thing that varies from person to person. To me, it's just common sense. If a total stranger approached you in the street and asked you for your full name, address and phone number, would you just provide the information without question, then carry on along your way and not give it a second thought?
[Edit]**removed quite a long ramble about why we should all take care of our personal info in general, not just the internet**[/edit]
paranoid? who, me? who said that? you looking at me?
-marko.
Author
Topic: Anonymity on the Internet (Read 2269 times)