Privacy Policy

You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it. So said Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems, as reported by Wired online. Although I have declined so far to share at this web space, no one should have any difficulty finding my address, telephone number, employer, work telephone number, home purchase price, the name of my college, and the like. As a corollary, I have no policy to protect your privacy regarding information about you found online, although currently I have no way of identifying visitors by name or e-mail address. Furthermore, the Google search engine and I have formed a cozy relationship (note that some of the pages I allude to may no longer be available):

  • If you stole my pencils in the third grade and later married at 19, then divorced 5 years later only to marry again in 6 months, Google and I will find you.
  • If you support Becky Lourey for Governor, Google and I will find you.
  • If you assert membership in the class of 1984 at (what is now) a local secondary school but mysteriously include an extra e in your name, Google and I will find you.
  • If you were a welcome sight at costume call and always had another moment for a photographer, Google and I will find you.
  • If you share your knowledge of Minolta manual focus lens mount SLR cameras at various mailing lists, Google and I will find you.
  • If you have co-authored articles about quasicrystals in Science and Phys. Rev. Lett., Google and I will find you.
  • If you had a recipe for chocolate toffee cookies published in the August 1995 issue of Bon Appétit magazine, Google and I will find you.
  • If you are acting and/or directing plays in Rhode Island and your wife has announced the birth of your son in her alumna magazine, Google and I will find you.
  • If you served as the attorney for a famous techno-thriller author during his divorce a few years ago, Google and I will find you.
  • If your city council has granted you a variance on the new garage you plan to build at your summer home (subject to the 25% impervious limitation), Google and I will find you.
  • If you are a Vice President for Marketing and your remarks on new products have been translated into Slovenian, Google and I will find you.
  • If you have attempted to learn German and (something you call) Serbo-Croat and forget in which you can just about count to 10, Google and I will find you.
Google

There’s something to be said still for AltaVista though:

  • If you were the 17-year-old author of the play happy little girl factory, AltaVista and I will find you.

Let’s not forget the other specialized tools I might find:

  • If you have donated to a political campaign, I might be able to find you at opensecrets.org.
But seriously…

All that I used to do with the utility from eXTReMe in the Netherlands is possible with analysis of the server logs. I try to associate this collected information offline with personally identifiable information found in tangible and electronic resources at my disposal to satisfy my curiosity. The statistical information may help me better appreciate the browsing environment I should design for and judge how often to update the site.

I do not write any cookies to your hard drive. Some of the graphics served from elsewhere (other than the servers for hannaher.net) may try to set a cookie.