Rhino here:
I received two disturbing replys to the 6/9/02 edition of Rhino's list which
directed you to click on a web site to "Give Water". The first informed me
that this had to be a scam, using the same type of gimmick as some other
unscrupulous companies such as the now notorious "DoubleClick"; that of
driving masses of people to a site for profit. I responded that the "Give
Water" web site had no ad banners and wasn't selling anything. With my
respect and thanks to him, here's some bits of what he had to say:
"Surely they are serving an invisible GIF or attaching a cookie to your hard
drive that follows you all around the web and allows ad agencies (the ones
that pay ... a few pennies per click) to track all your movements around the
web and tailor ads to what category you fall into... the end of privacy on
the web...in the last several years, a lot of this has come out in the legal
challenges to DoubleClick (one of the worst offending ad agencies) which
have compliled dossiers on almost every citizen in the country. If you dont
know about cookies and how they are the foot soldier in the war on privacy
being waged by ad agencies and large corporations, then check out:
http://www.cookiecentral.com
or
http://www.cdt.org
This is a big issue, and for the future, it has everything to do with
our freedom since so much of our lives will be netbased."
Rhino again,
To learn more, you can do searches on "privacy", cookies &/or "webbugs".
To fend them off,
- avoid "click to save this or that" sites (sorry about that...)
- surf the web with cookies turned OFF in your browser
- warn others
The second disturbing response to the "Save Water" post was sent by the same
person that originally sent it to me. It follows here:
"I sent out an invitation to click on a web-site and offer water to thirsty
people. Here's a follow up:
I'm currently researching water and access to water for a multimedia project
I'm producing. It turns out that Thames Water is part of the transnational
corporation RWE-Thames Water, which is actively working to privatize water
utilities. So, on the one hand, they're inviting us to give away water; on
the other, they're setting up systems by which water rates for many of the
millions of Africans and Asians referred to on the site will be increased to
the point of unaffordability. Developed nations will be effected, as well.
In the UK, Thames Water's performance record has drawn negative comment: on
July 27, 2001, UK Environment Minister Michael Meaker said, "I am extremely
worried by Thames Water's performance. Its inability to cut leakage, or even
to account for where all the water in its pipes goes, is totally
unacceptable." [source: 'Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of
the World's Water', Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, NY: The New Press, 2002,
p. 122] So I think this page inviting us to give away water is a PR ploy.
What I've learned so far about corporate control of water has horrified me."
Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright
law ( http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html ). All
copyrights belong to original publisher.
7:53:29 AM 
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