On 3/12/2010 13:22, Steven Bellovin wrote:
On Mar 12, 2010, at 1:57 PM, Scott Weeks wrote:
--- tme@americafree.tv wrote: From: Marshall Eubanks <tme@americafree.tv>
This might be useful to some. Article : http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62B08720100312
site :http://www.broadband.gov/
It requires giving your address. -----------------------------------------------
Nah, no real address needed. Just use 123 elm street abbeville alabama 36310. That's the first zip code I found on a site... ;-)
What they really need is something more or less like an accurate zip code, I suspect. They want to find out what real "broadband" speeds are in different parts of the country. Putting in a fake address renders your data useless. One can ask why they aren't using IP geolocation; I suspect it's because it's not accurate enough. Your address? They may be interested in how many cable-feet you are from a CO, for DSL linkes.
Now -- under the Privacy Act, if they're collecting addresses I believe they had to do a Privacy Impact Assessment. Since I can't imagine why it would be classified, it should be publicly available. I don't see it, but I don't have time today to look for it.
They are supposed to pay their income taxes too. Color me paranoid if you like, but I worry that if you play their game and DON'T answer the questions accurately and honestly, you have set yourself up for a bad ride for lying to an Official Government Agency. -- "Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have." Remember: The Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals. Requiescas in pace o email Ex turpi causa non oritur actio Eppure si rinfresca ICBM Targeting Information: http://tinyurl.com/4sqczs http://tinyurl.com/7tp8ml