A title this would be, had I the originality.

[Edit: This is an open letter to the Open Rights Group (ORG), the UKs last best hope against the constant encroachments of the "Intellectual Property" crowd.

I cannot state too strongly how strenuously I support their goals. I think they are the best thing to happen in the UK since... well, maybe the internet. Which is why their signup form (see after cut) was such a slap in the face.

So I am putting my money where my mouth is, I am signing up *despite* these grumbles, and if they address them, I'll buy another. Hey, it's only £5/month, why don't you join me? :D]

I was excited to hear about the ORG. I'd already opened my blog page and begun a post before I'd opened your signup form... and discovered it *requires* the following information:

Gender (via title).
Full name (first and last).
Full postal address.
Email address.

Sure, I could have filled it with nonsense, but the presence of these required fields said very clearly to me that you intended to store information on me, and have no clue about the principle of "need to know"; no clue about data protection, privacy, or anonymity; and ultimately, no clue about digital rights, which is what your organisation is meant to stand for.

For now, at least, my money will go to the EFF: they "get" it. Unlike yourselves, if I want to donate to them by PayPal, all I need do is click a link.

- Dewi Morgan.

Am I being a lousy type-A for that? Maybe.

But really, if a rights group isn't set up to take anonymous donations, what other incompetencies do they have?

Why do they want my gender? What earthly use is my postal address to them? Why do they need my name?

The simple answer is, they do NOT need these things. Not one of them. The only reason they ask for it is so they can track me and contact me in ways for which I have not given my consent.

The UK government is famous for losing DVDs of personal details, and yet our rights group is asking us to hand them over to them. Because we can trust THEM, right? Because they're ORG, they're trustworthy! They won't screw up!

But... they already have, with their signup form. It's crushingly embarrassing to see that on the web page of my country's rights organisation.

So, money gone to the EFF instead, at least until we have an ORG which "gets it".

[Edit: Incidentally, if you do sign up with them, please credit http://randomreality.blogware.com/ - since that's where I got it from. And if he gets ten of us signing up, he'll blog every day for a month! Whereas, I'm not offering any bribes atall...]