[conspire] Wondering about reasons to keep landline phone now that wonderful rawbandwidth's DSL is no longer available at my location.

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Don Marti (dmarti at zgp.org):

> Our house has an HP laser printer/scanner/copier/fax, and the fax
> feature comes in handy for two things:
> 
>  * plug it in at dinnertime so the telemarketers put our number in
> their database as a fax number
> 
>  * fax CCPA letters are faster than the complex "dark patterns" that
> some companies put you through.
> 
> https://github.com/dmarti/privacy-docs/commit/7117de8d711b513375b64a148f9df391273af3fb

Yeah, that.  For those who aren't up on the latter:
https://insights.truyo.com/a-guide-to-the-ccpas-right-to-opt-out
Short version:  Major portions of California's consumer privacy statute,
the best outside Europe, kicked in Jan. 1, 2021, after a one-year grace
period.  And that includes ability to opt-out of companies "sharing"
(selling) personal information about you.

I'll note in passing that the corporate world is so wary of CCPA that
they got the Legislature to extend _further_, from Jan. 1, 2021 to Jan.
1, 2023 CCPA's regulation of privacy invasion by companies related to
employees/contractors and in busines-to-business communication.  See: AB 1281.
https://www.morganlewis.com/pubs/2020/10/new-ccpa-amendment-extends-exemptions-for-employment-related-and-b2b-data


In general, lawyers remain totally addicted to the PDF format and to
faxing, so, if you need to do lawyer-tinged communication, at some point
you will probably find yourself needing to send faxes.  Chez Moen hasn't 
found a proper workaround to this in the awkward absence of a landline,
yet.  I guess if I needed to send a fax today, I'd do it at FedEx Office
Print & Ship Center, downtown Menlo Park, and pay the Man.

I am tracking with interest the story about GPC.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/28/22252935/global-privacy-control-personal-data-tracking-ccpa-cpra-gdpr-duckduckgo