I agree that’s the way the question should have read, my point was that the question didn’t read that way.

As for a Lamborghini not being Data, that’s what makes that example an analogy instead of a simple comparison. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition defines analogy as

1a. Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar. b. A comparison based on such similarity. See synonyms at likeness.

I’ll further the Lamborghini analogy in a bit.

Publicly available information is not the same as unprotected. To understand my position a bit better you can read today’s entry in my blog.

And yes, I can stop you from sending me a Birthday card from the information in the telephone book (you’d be hard pressed to find me in the yellow pages), all I have to do is ask for an unlisted number and my information won’t appear in that hard copy database. I can even take it a step further and add my number to a National “No Call” registry and the telemarketers can’t use my information even if it is publicly available. My Data, my choice.

As for using my name all you want and I can’t stop you? Let’s revisit the Lamborghini analogy. You can buy a publicly available exact replica of my Lamborghini, same make, model, year, even color. That doesn’t make my Lamborghini yours any more than it makes yours mine. And it doesn’t mean they’re unprotected, there are licenses and I doubt that your key would work in my car or that my key would work in your car. Same cars, different owners. Try to take my Lamborghini and drive it away claiming it’s yours, you’d best be ready for Grand Theft Auto charges and a record.

As for TOS agreements, after having spent over two years meeting with a Legal team every other week and whenever else was necessary for creating and posting a TOS agreement on the Website of the Health Benefits Management Corporation for whom I worked, While your statement can be very true, is it worth flaunting to see if your the one to get caught? Well,that’s your choice.

And yes, This will go on for a very long time, if HIPAA is any indication. And the more it’s discussed, the better.

I tried, briefly, to make this point almost a week ago (see http://69.253.47.61:8080/?p=18 ). You may think you own your name, but try to stop me from using it. I can say it all day, I can give it to my child, I can even change my name to yours. Not only that, but if I find out your friend’s and family’s names, I can use those, too.

Names aren’t the only unprotected items. I can look up your address data in the yellow pages and send you a birthday card. You don’t like it, too bad. Are you going to claim I “scraped” your data or the directory’s data?

If I sign up for a service, free or otherwise, and agree to what is almost always an abhorrently oppressive TOS, my only option if I don’t like the terms is to stop using the service. But that doesn’t imply that the often ridiculous terms are legally binding or even reasonable.

This will be an interesting and ongoing debate for some time. That’s one of the great things about the Net: (almost) everyone can voice their opinion (almost) equally.

And PS I’ve been told that their TOSA leaves them with your data, even if you delete your account.