Debbie, from reading your post you seem very concerned about privacy. So, I guess that answers that :blush:
If you are all really that facinated about the details behind how the newspaper interview came about, it went like this:
1) I believed that the public needed to know about this law, because the state did nothing to inform the people. I also believed that when people found out, there may have been a public backlash.
2) I called the state senator who introduced this bill, and was informed by her the legal advisor that the law would not apply to webmasters, but to players only.
3) I then contacted several newspapers and radio stations around the state about the law, hoping to get the public interested. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer did the story without mentioniong me on May 27th.
4) My home town paper agreed to do the story, but the editor insisted on a “local angle”… so I agreed, still believeing that webmasters were safe. The reported agreed not to use my name or mention that I had family in the area…. he lied.
I hope that satisfies your curiosity :turn:
And that is exactly what I have now. If there are grounds to challenge this law, I will know this coming week and I may very well take the lead on this. If we do not have a leg to stand on, I will let you know that as well.
Well, it would have been nice to address you privately about this… so as not to cause any undo alarm with APCW Members… but since that ship has sailed:
1) When webmasters submit data, they use only their usernames and nothing more. No contact information, real names, or IP Addresses are stored with usernames in the database.
2) Once we generate a report for the month, no record is kept of which members submitted what data. All data is compiled into a file for that month and querried that way.
3) I do not keep any webmaster records on my hard drive whatsoever. All APCW data is stored on a server in California. They can seize whatever they want here, and even look at the hard drive in California… it won’t do them any good.
4) Many webmasters who are submitting data are located outside of the USA, and all of them (except me) are outside of Washington.
5) Finally, I dare say that (if the US Government want’s to look into your cash flow) they will find a way get your records via a much more reliable source then my database.
As far as I can tell, I don’t think you even submit data to the APCW at all. I will do everything in my power to protect my members, and moving my physical location out of the country is certainly on the table at this point.
Believe me when I tell you this: My ass is a lot more exposed than anyone elses right now… I am the one facing fines and years in prison…
… but I understand your concerns.