The Battalion
Monday - June 9,199,)J
Web users tangle
with privacy issue
□ Debate ensues as
the Internet evolves into a
commercial marketplace.
NEW YORK (AP) — A survey re
leased on the eve of important gov
ernment hearings on Web privacy
suggests computer users are ex
tremely vulnerable to cyberspace
spying and other personal intru
sions by Internet businesses.
The results could help frame
one of the most fundamental de
bates in the evolution of the Inter
net as a commercial marketplace:
whether the industry can police it
self or the government must step
in to protect millions of personal-
computer users.
Starting Tuesday, the Federal
Trade Commission will hold un
usually broad hearings in response
to complaints by privacy advocates
that personal information is gath
ered and used by online operators
without user consent or knowledge.
The Electronic Privacy Infor
mation Center, a nonprofit con
sumer group participating in the
talks, released its survey in a pre
emptive volley ahead of the Wash
ington hearings. The group pro
vided the results to The Associated
Press Sunday in advance of a
planned release Monday.
The survey found that of the In
ternet’s 100 most popular Web sites,
about half collect personal infor
mation from users who click on
their sites or through mailing lists
and other means.
Only 17 sites even mention the
privacy issue, and most of those
fell far short of what the group
considered adequate disclosure —
explaining why information is col
lected, how it will be used, and
what steps will be taken to limit
improper use.
“The industry is urging self
policing, but there is no indication
that Web sites today are doing any
thing toward that,” said David So-
bel, the center’s legal counsel.
Some of the surveyed sites ex
plain privacy policies in ambiguous
language. For example,
Amazon.com, a major online seller
of books, tells users it does not rent
or sell its mailing list. But it adds
that users should send an e-mail to
make sure this doesn’t happen, the
surveyors said.
Of the 100 sites, only eight gave
users some control over whether
the Web site could share the per
sonal information with others.
On the positive side, the sur
veyors noted that some sites, such
as CNN’s online service, don’t col
lect any information about Web
users. This type of anonymity was
touted by the group as a main way
for the Internet to retain the priva
cy of surfers.
“There is a lot of anonymity ...
which is the defacto way privacy is
protected,” said Marc Rotenberg,
director of the privacy information
center. “Some people who think
they are surfing the Net are actual
ly swimming in a fish bowl. It’s a
little uncomfortable once you re
alize that.”
In another item of concern, 23
of the 100 Web sites enabled the
creation of “cookies,” which are
nuggets of information that can
be planted into a user’s PC and
used without their knowledge.
None of the sites told the user
about this intrusion.
When a user first visits a Web
site and gives his or her name and
other personal information, the
Web-site computer can store the
cookie in the user’s hard-drive so
that during the next visit to the site
it will retrieve the cookie and greet
the user by name.
The wony is that the same tech
nology also can track which Web
sites are visited, what pages are
looked at, even a user’s hobbies,
then link the data to people’s names
and addresses. Site owners can sell
the information to advertisers and
other interested parties, without
the consent or knowledge of users.
The survey was conducted by
group members last Thursday by
examining sites ranked as the most
popular by a Web service,
www.100hot.com.
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Photograph: Tim Moiigf
Cl fin of thp* Timo^ ChristinaBorgstedte, a senior elementary education major, paints signs for the Aggie Orientation Leader
llllIvTo program for the New Student Conferences starting today.
Minister says former Klansman confessed before execution
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) —After 16 years of pro
claiming his innocence, a former Ku Klux Klans
man confessed to killing a black teen-ager, ac
cording to a minister who met with the death row
inmate before he was executed.
The Rev. Bob Smith mentioned the confes
sion at Henry Francis Hays’ funeral on Satur
day, shocking friends and relatives. Hays, 42,
was executed in Alabama’s electric chair early
Friday for the 1981 slaying.
Smith, president of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People in Mobile, met
with Hays for the first time in prison on Wednesday.
“He told me he was guilty,” Smith said in an
interview that appeared in Sunday editions of
The Mobile Register. “He said, ‘You’re the only
one who knows this.’”
The minister sa,id he encouraged Hays to
“take a bath in confession.”
Then, Smith said, Hays reached over, grabbed
his arms and began a tearful, detailed, 40-minute
account of 19-year-old Michael Donald's abduc
tion, beating and strangulation. Donald’s body
was later hanged in a tree as a way of showing
Klan strength in Alabama.
The minister said he shared the story of the con
fession because Hays did not tell him to keep it pri
vate. Smith witnessed the execution and attended
the funeral Saturday, along with about 40 others.
Smith said Hays told him the Alabama Ku
Klux Klan ordered the killing of a black person in
retaliation for the slaying of a white Birmingham
policeman. A jury in Mobile deadlocked on
charges against a black man in that slaying.
“It was their job to let the blacks know you
couldn’t get away with that,” Smith said.
Hays’ account was almost identical to that giv
en by fellow Klansman James “Tiger” Knowles,
who testified against Hays and is serving a life sen
tence. Hays disputed Knowles’ testimony that he i
slit Donald’s throat three times to make sure he was
dead. He said Knowles was responsible.
After making the confession, Hays asked
Smith: ‘Am I guilty? What do you say?” Smithsug-/i
gested that they pray, and Hays cried.
Hays asked Smith to relay the confession to
Donald’s brother, Stanley, but Smith refused aii|>||
said he should tell him himself. r
Stanley Donald was unimpressed with tire con
fession. “If he actually wanted to tell somebody, 1
our family is who he should have told,” he said, f
A friend, Chuck Blanton, said the minister
told him about the confession but before he was
executed, Hays wouldn’t confirm it. “He did say
he has confessed what he has to confess to wan
and he confessed what he had to confess to
God,” Blanton said.
News
Briefs
Students circulate
Northgate petition
Students will be at the Recre
ation Center lobby from 1-10 p.m.
today circulating a petition to get
Northgate redevelopment put to a
vote. The petition calls College Sta
tion residents to vote on whether to
build a proposed hotel and conven
tion center on Patricia Street.
American triumphs
at piano competition
FORT WORTH (AP) — American
Jon Nakamatsu, described as
“everybody’s sentimental fa
vorite,” won the gold medal Sun
day in the 10th Van Clibum In
ternational Piano Competition.
A graduate of Stanford University,
the popular 28-year-old man from
Sunnyvale, Calif., was probably the
only contestant who didn’t go to a con
servatory or even major in music. He
majored in German and secondary ed
ucation and teaches German at a high
school in San Jose.
A crowd of some 3,000 applauded
wildly and gave Nakamatsu a standing
ovation as he joined Cliburn and other
finalists on the stage. He’s the third
American to win the prize.
Murder suspect
blames intruders
NEW YORK (AP) — The man ac
cused of murdering his former teacher
told police he was in Jonathan Levin’s
apartment the day he was killed but
fled aftertwo armed intruders burst in,
according to the criminal complaint re
leased Sunday.
Corey Arthur told police he went to
Levin’s Upper West side apartment on
May 30. Arthur said two people came
in — one brandishing a gun, the other
a knife — and ordered him to bind
Levin with duct tape, which he said he
did, the complaint said.
Levin, a popular English teacher
and son of Time Warner CEO Gerald
Levin, was bound with duct tape and
tortured with a knife, apparently to get
him to reveal the password for his
bank card. He was then killed with a
gunshot to the head.
Negotiators struggle
to reach agreement
WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s make-
or-break time for a tobacco settle
ment, and it comes with a note of
desperation.
The lead peacemakers are
telling Congress to expect a deal
with tobacco companies this week.
But they’re admitting they will have
to get their own side to compromise
and offer cigarette makers contro
versial last-minute protections
against legal liability.
And Mississippi Attorney Gener
al Michael Moore, leading the anti
tobacco side, is pushing ahead
without the crucial support of the
public health establishment. The
states suing tobacco companies
are so fractured that Moore post
poned plans to show them a final
deal on Tuesday.
Weather Outlook
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THURSDAY
FRIDAY
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Low: 70°
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Sk@feh
By Quatro
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LIST OF All the POSSIBLE WAYS X COULP CELEBRATE.
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THREE MONTHS AMP SEVENTEEN PAYS INTO HERBERT'S |
SOCK, "TWENTY STEPS T0WARP SPONTANEITY.’'
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John LeBas, City Editor
April Towery, Lifestyles Editor
Kristina Buffin, Sports Editor
James Francis, Opinion Editor
Staff
Jody Holley, Night News Editor
Tim Moog, Photo Editor
Brad Graeber, Graphics Editor
Jacqueline Salinas, Radio Editor
David Friesenhahn, Web Editor
Members
Cnv- Assistant Editors: Erica Roy & Matt Weber;
Reporters: Michelle Newman, Joey Schlueter &
Jenara Kocks; Copy Editor: Jennifer Jones
Lifestyles- Rhonda Reinhart, Keith McPhaii
& Jenny Vrnak
Sports- Matt Mitchell, Travis Dabney & Jeremy
Furtick
Opinion- John Lemons, Stephen Llano,
Robby Ray, Mandy Cater, Leonard Callaway,
Chris Brooks, Dan Cone, Jack Harvey &
General Franklin
Night News- Assistant Editor: Joshua Miller
Photo- Derek Demere, Robert McKay, Rony
Angkriwan & Pat James
Graphics- Quatro Oakley, Chad Mallam &
Ed Goodwin
Radio- Will Hodges, Missy Kemp, Amy
Montgomery, Sunny Pemberton, Joey Schlueter,
Michelle Snyder & Karina Trevino
Web- Chip Riley
Office Staff- Stacy Labay, Christy Clowdus &
Mandy Cater
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