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11/24/2002 Entry: "Opt Your Little Troopers Out Mammas and Pappas"

The government is forcing parents to opt-outmarketing program geared at high school students:

The student directories will be used to contact students by phone and mail, William Carr said. The recruitment effort should not be compared to telemarketing in any way, he said, and it would be illegal to use the data for any purpose other than recruiting.

Unsolicated telephonephone contact is the very definition of telemarketing, Mr Carr. No comparison is needed.

Here a sample opt-out form that Fairfax county is using. It's worth filling out for your own little troopers, even if you're outside the area.

Also seeing that the FBI's suspected terrorist list was leaked to private companies, what's the chance your kid's name isn't also going to be leaked to, umm I mean shared with private contractors ?

I hear mercenaries are looking to rebrand themselves. Who knows, maybe little Suzie's data will be for sale in the back pages of Soldier of Fortune some day soon.

(Interesting little tidbit on that SOF link - apparently only 1% of SOF readers own a knife.)