[Koha] Re: user comments

[Nicholas Rosasco]

> But this might be a small price to pay if there is danger of you being
> forced to reveal the data. I remember just recently actually a bookstore
> somewhere in the US refused to reveal a patrons purchase record.
> Cant recall
> specifics but it was on slashdot.org. So I can see how its a legitimate
> concern that someone may demand it.

Monica Lewinsky is the ... incident ... you are thinking of.  It is also a
concern item for our European users, I'd think -- their privacy rules are
significantly stricter.
Perhaps we could go a middle ground?  Instead of a perfectly anonymous code,
we could tag it with a patron code that is marked as a "demographic" code
(ie first digit is a patron type: local/external, next is age "bracket",
etc)?  That is usually generally acceptable, as marketing firms keep that
kind of data.

> That might be a good configuration option. Anonymise issue records (course
> youd have to wait till the item is returned *grin*)

I'm not a lawyer, but this is _definitely_ a potentially touchy item.  My
rule of thumb is always to avoid keeping data on a person unless they are
a.) aware it exists and b.) have an opt out option.

If I'm not mistaken, the privacy of a library user is something that is
_heavily_ encouraged by groups like the Amer. Library Assoc. (which has a
code of ethics for librarians).  I'll put it in the roadmap.

Nick