A tricky technology question

I read about an interesting dilemma on CNN.com yesterday.

(Did you know that according to the AP Stylebook, 'dilemma' is not synonymous with 'problem'? According to the Stylebook, a dilemma is 'more than a problem. It implies a choice between two unattractive choices.' I put a copy of the Stylebook in the bathroom recently, and have been reading it in 15-minute sessions for the past week. It's amazing how much I've learned. I highly recommend that you add it to your bathroom reading list.)

Anyway, here's the dilemma: The family of a Marine killed in Iraq is 'pleading with' Internet giant Yahoo! for access to the soldier's e-mail account. The company, of course, says the account is off-limits under its privacy policy.

This is a gut-wrenching story if there ever was one. On the family side, this is a way to hold on to a piece of their son. 'I want to be able to remember him in his words,' the soldier's father says in the story. 'I know he thought he was doing what he needed to do. I want to have that for the future. It's the last thing I have of my son.'

How can you argue with that?

But I can also see Yahoo!'s point of view, too. If they can't protect the privacy of their members, they will be out of business in less than a year.

And there's one other point of view that you can't forget about: that of the soldier.

Do you remember being 20 years old? There was no e-mail when I was 20, but if there was, I would have lived in constant terror that someday my parents might read what I wrote to my friends at that age. Constant, unbending terror.

Back in my day, we talked on the phone a lot. It's all we had. Reading a kid's e-mail today would be the equivalent of taping all my phone conversations and then letting my parents read a transcript of those tapes. Can you think of anything worse?

I hope—for everyone's sake—that Yahoo! doesn't bend on this.

See you next year!

Ragan Communications is shutting down both its brick and plaster offices and its Web site, starting today. They'll open both on Monday, January 3rd.

So, while I'll be writing and collecting good stuff over the holidays, I'll have no way to post.

But check back here January 3 for a flurry of corporate hallucinations.

And in the meantime, get off the computer and spend some time with your family . . . or just go on a Christmas bender. Whatever makes you happy.