Archive

From: "Fred Davis" fred@lumeria.com
To: HQ.DCMAIL4(advisorycommittee)
Date: Mon, Jan 3, 2000 3:48 PM
Subject: Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security - Nomination, P004807

TO: Secretary, FTC
FROM: Fred Davis, CEO/President, Lumeria Inc.

RE: Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security - Nomination, P004807

To Whom it May Concern:

I would like to nominate myself, Frederic E. Davis, to the FTC Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security. I am nominating myself because I have considerable professional expertise and knowledge that is relevant to the issues the Advisory Committee is being formed to address, and because the company I founded, Lumeria Inc., is establishing a suite of new technologies that help protect consumer privacy and provide companies with ways of meeting fair information practice principles as set forth by both the "1998 Report" and as set forth by EU privacy regulations.

Here are some of the professional qualifications that I can bring to the committee:

-- I worked for 15 years as a technology journalist with Ziff-Davis Publishing, Wired Magazine, The San Jose Mercury News, NPR's All Things Considered, and other media outlets. As a journalist I observed and wrote about the development of personal computer technology and the social implications it has brought with it.

-- I have been programming computers since 1966 (when I was 11 years old) and have written 14 books on computer technology including the first book on Desktop Publishing, and the top-selling Windows Bible series. This has provided me with a deep technical understanding of computer technology.

-- I have been professionally active in the Internet industry since the inception of the World Wide Web, and have participated in a number of Internet start-ups including CNET, Ask Jeeves, and Lumeria. This experience has provided me with an excellent understanding of the Internet industry and the various challenges that Internet businesses face.

-- I am the founder of the Computer Institute, a non-profit group devoted to computers, education, arts, and social issues.

-- I am the founder and CEO of Lumeria, an Internet incubator and R&D lab that is working on a variety of profiling, access, privacy, and security initiatives.

Here are some of the things Lumeria is working on that may be relevant to the Advisory Committee:

-- Lumeria has developed a new system for Internet profiling called the SuperProfile that combines technology with a new social contract with the individual. Lumeria believes the individual should own and control their information, and the SuperProfile is a secure digital container for personal information that the individual can own and control. The SuperProfile addresses the key issues of notice/awareness, choice/consent, access/participation, integrity/security, and enforcement/redress.

-- Lumeria has developed a SuperProxy technology that masks users and prevents information from being collected about individuals on the net without their consent.

-- Lumeria's SuperProfile, SuperProxy, and related technology solutions meet the more stringent EU privacy requirements, and we believe we have a workable solution to the "safe harbor" dispute between the EU and the US.

-- Lumeria is the publisher of a new online publication called Privacy Place (www.PrivacyPlace.com) that provides consumers with information about privacy issues and access to privacy solutions. The editor of Privacy Place, Dr. Tom Maddox, has been hailed as one of America's top privacy experts by Lawrence Lessig, special master in the Microsoft case.

-- Lumeria is planning a SuperOptOut service that will help consumers avoid unwanted telemarketing and direct mail by placing them on the many Do-Not-Contact lists set up by direct marketers, and by helping enforce violations with mini-class-action suites filed against violators on behalf of the consumers whose privacy was infringed upon.

For these various reasons I believe I can be a valuable member of your Advisory Committee. Thank you for considering my nomination.

Sincerely,

Frederic E. Davis

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Fred Davis
President & CEO
fred@lumeria.com
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Lumeria Inc.
The Power of You! *
http://www.lumeria.com
(510) 647-1800 phone
(510) 647-0943 fax
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