Edited by author 06-04-2003 05:23 PM
"so what's wrong with the government doing the same thing that Amazon.com's doing?" /m7

Because Amazon doesn't have the same power that the government has. Amazon won't have me arrested (or rejected from a high ranking government job, or black-mailed out of an election ...), because I read "How to make cluster bombs for dummies" or "Love me I'm French" :) I'm exagerating of course, but the *potential* for abuse is much more important from the government then from Amazon.

For the record, I'm happy to receive more usefull ads when I go to Amazon or whatever. They have achieved their goal of bringing me better ads. Now, if I give that same power to the government, are they really going to keep me safe by knowing what books I read? That's hard to conclude. I personnally think that the potential for abuse is much greater than the potential for good things comming out of this.

What self-respecting terrorist is going to go to the library now to get info on how to make bombs? None! Or if they do, you can bet they'll bypass the super-high security forms that you have to fill in when you get your library card. If they are smart, they won't even return the book! What are we left with? The government collecting information on "non-terrorist" axis-of-good people. What we get in the end is the potential for abuse, nothing more.

That's my take on this anyway :)