Since last year the [1] NET Bible is also avalaible as SWORD module, and not only as premium version with more than 60.000 notes for $19,95, but also as “free version” for free.

A good offer, I thought. Even $19,95 for the premium version are acceptable. But I wanted to check what the NET bible module really is worth and so decided to download the “[2] free version”.

Some klicks later I arrived at this page:

You won’t believe it: all the informations marked by double asterisks are needed for downloading the “free version”!

As I am old enough to have experienced the[3] 1983 campaign against a population census in Germany (which BTW led to new data privacy laws) I decided to stop. Why do they need all these informations for a simple download?

I’d prefer to pay money only to remain anonymous. But for the premium version the same informations are obligatory. The times when you could buy nearly everything anonymously and unrecognized belong to the past.

O.K., there is a statement on [4] privacy policy on the bible.org website, but according to German law to ask for all these informations would be illegal, as you are only allowed to store those data that are needed for the transaction. What data do you need for a “free” download? Certainly not the telephone number.

But in times where information is pure gold many people seem to think that privacy and data protection are outdated.