FC: Clinton frets over online privacy, marvels at screen saver

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[I wonder what well-known technology would let Internet users scramble 
their data and protect their privacy -- that is, if only President Clinton 
hadn't declared a "state of emergency" via executive order that allows the 
executive branch to regulate it and thus thwart its inclusion into email 
programs? Hmm. --Declan]


http://www.nytimes.com/

The New York Times
March 4, 2000

Clinton Calls for Stronger Measures to Protect the Privacy of Computer Users

By MARC LACEY
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 3 --President Clinton said today that he considered 
cyberspace too insecure for him to correspond privately by e-mail with his 
daughter, Chelsea, who is away at college. In the same speech to high-tech 
executives here in the heart of Silicon Valley, Mr. Clinton also called on 
the industry to enhance computer privacy to reassure many people like 
himself who are still wary of the new technology.

[...]

At the forum, organized by the Aspen Institute, Mr. Clinton told the 
high-tech executives that computer users deserved notice about what 
personal information was being collected and how it would be used, and 
should be able to choose whether the data would be shared with others.

"You know, ordinary folks, even people who aren't online yet, are very 
excited about the prospects of this age so many of you have done so much to 
create," Mr. Clinton told the executives, including the executives of such 
Silicon Valley powerhouses as Yahoo, Cisco Systems and Siebel Systems. "But 
they are really concerned about this. They are afraid they will have no 
place to hide."

After his speech, Mr. Clinton said in a brief interview that he was one of 
those people wary about sending information through cyberspace.

"I won't send e-mail to Chelsea because I don't think it's secure," he said.

The president added that once he left office next year he would probably 
not be as concerned about his electronic communications.

Mr. Clinton admits he is a novice when it comes to the Internet. Just last 
week, during a fund-raising visit to Florida, he marveled at something as 
mundane as a screen saver. Before Christmas last year, Mr. Clinton ordered 
some gifts over the Internet, an experience he still talks about in his 
speeches.

[...]

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