For Immediate Release: 8/1/00
For More Information: Joyce Schwarz, hush-in@democrats.com

Democrats.com to Launch Major Web Site with a
"Hush-in" on Privacy at Democratic Convention

Event to feature remarks by advisers to Al Gore and
endorsement of Gore by leading privacy experts

Democrats.com, the first Internet community for America's 100 million Democrats, will launch its new Web site with a "Hush-in" on Internet privacy at the Democratic Convention on August 16 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, 404 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles.  The event is sponsored by Zero Knowledge Systems, a leading provider of Internet privacy protection services.

"The issue of  Internet privacy is a critical issue for voters in this election," according to Democrats.com co-founder David Lytel. "The more attention voters give privacy, the better off Democrats are, because almost all progress on privacy has been proposed and championed by Democrats," Lytel said.

According to Lytel, "Republicans avoid genuine solutions for protecting privacy because they will limit what can be done with information about consumers by companies.  The unregulated market in private information has produced one privacy horror story after another," added Lytel, who was co-developer and managing editor of the award-winning White House Web site before founding Democrats.com  Lytel cited Doubleclick's attempt to merge anonymous cookie profiles with personally identifiable information, Intel's use of a Processor Serial Number to track every computer user, and Microsoft's collection of registration data on all Windows '98 users.

According to Lytel, Democrats favor strong and effective Internet privacy protection. "Democrats are not afraid to place serious controls on consumer data collection," he said. "This is a crucial issue for voters, and Democrats will gain votes if they campaign strongly as champions of privacy," he added.

The "Hush-in" will start with remarks by Democratic strategists setting out the clear differences between Democrats and Republicans on privacy, and in particular the huge differences between Gore and Bush.  Top Gore technology advisers Greg Simon and Roy Neel will speak.  The nation's most experienced privacy advocate, Robert Ellis Smith of Privacy Journal, will present a survey of the states that ranked Texas at the bottom in protecting citizens from unwarranted and unauthorized intrusion into their private lives.  Smith, called by the New York Times a "principled advocate," will endorse Gore.

This will be followed by a panel of privacy experts debating where national privacy policy needs to go under a Democratic administration and where it is likely go under a Republican administration. The moderator is Lisa Napoli of MSNBC, and participants include Robert Ellis Smith, Evan Hendricks (editor of Privacy Times), and Bob Gellman (a privacy expert on Capitol Hill).

The event will conclude with the humorous presentation of the world's first Ken Starr Awards ("The Kennys") for the year's top privacy invaders: Winners will receive awards in various categories, including Internet Privacy, Privacy Legislation, and Impeachment. Celebrity presenters will be recruited from the fields of entertainment, the Internet, and politics.

"It's been nearly two years since Ken Starr committed one of the worst violations of personal privacy in American history in his efforts to destroy President Clinton," said Bob Fertik, co-founder of Democrats.com. "After suffering through this ordeal, Americans deserve to have some fun at Starr's expense," Fertik added.

The new web site at Democrats.com is the first major community site for Democratic elected officials, candidates, party leaders, activists, and voters. It features the first daily Democratic newsletter on the Internet, fun interactive games, in-depth discussions of major issues led by prominent Democrats, hard-hitting analysis of Republican leaders including George w. Bush, and tools for researching candidates at all levels.

Democrats.com is a private company created in January by two veteran Democrats. In addition to building an online community, Democrats.com sells Internet services to Democratic campaigns, committees, and causes.

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