[JDEV] Privacy mode

[David Waite]

Jens Alfke wrote:

> I don't mind the idea of "invisibility", but this one bothers me.
> Forging presence to show different states to different people seems
> shady somehow. Maybe because it has no real-life equivalent. Invisible
> mode is like being able to look into a crowded room before (or instead
> of) walking in and making yourself known; but sending different presence
> states to different people doesn't correspond to anything people are
> used to, and the only uses I can think of for it are deceitful (sending
> "available" to your boss while everyone else sees your actual "xa"
> status because you've taken off for the afternoon...)
>

Naw, being invisible to your ex-girlfriend would be a good way for an angry
ex-boyfriend to know when she is at home. Thank goodness Jabber doesn't
give out the person's IP like ICQ does; I managed to anger lots of random
(apparently pre-teenage) people; they would find my IP and start trying to
hack/crash my machine.  Some people I know stopped using IM clients
completely just because of this reason.

I would not promote an 'invisible' mode which allowed you to stalk people
in these ways. I would proposal a method where you are only online to a
select group of people period; people who were not in your group would not
receive *or* show any presence.

-David Waite