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"Minitel enthusiasts cherished the network’s privacy and anonymity. In late 1984, Minitel engineers added a feature to the terminal that saved the last page vis
by thatguy0900 9y ago
"Minitel enthusiasts cherished the network’s privacy and anonymity. In late 1984, Minitel engineers added a feature to the terminal that saved the last page visited and made it easier for the user to pick up an interrupted session—as a browser cookie does today. The public outcry was swift and brutal. Editorials in newspapers, which (rightly) saw Minitel as a competitor, warned that Big Brother had arrived. Some 3,000 terminals were returned in protest. The PTT soon dropped this feature." Pretty sad to see where we've come since then
- digi_owl 9y agoI think the basic problem is that while back then we had a low water mark of privacy, the Soviet Union, that the west wanted to stay above as a point of pride, these days we have none.
- kalleboo 9y agoWell we have China, but western leaders seem to be more prone to using the Chinese Great Firewall as a leading example than a bad example.
- digi_owl 9y agoFunnily China seems to be treated more like a capitalist oligarchy these days (and may well be operating like one as well). The last remaining communist nations to be "feared" seems to be Cuba and North Korea.
- walshemj 9y agoPrivacy lol I bet France telecom could look at every thing and as it was tied to the phone line it wasn't very anonymous.