Privacy under attack, but does anybody care?

Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:13 pm » by **Torofamily**

Privacy under attack, but does anybody care?
It's vanishing, but there's no consensus on what it is or what should be done

Someday a stranger will read your e-mail, rummage through your instant messages without your permission or scan the Web sites you’ve visited — maybe even find out that you read this story.

You might be spied in a lingerie store by a secret camera or traced using a computer chip in your car, your clothes or your skin.

Perhaps someone will casually glance through your credit card purchases or cell phone bills, or a political consultant might select you for special attention based on personal data purchased from a vendor.

In fact, it’s likely some of these things have already happened to you.

Who would watch you without your permission? It might be a spouse, a girlfriend, a marketing company, a boss, a cop or a criminal. Whoever it is, they will see you in a way you never intended to be seen — the 21st century equivalent of being caught naked.

Psychologists tell us boundaries are healthy, that it’s important to reveal yourself to friends, family and lovers in stages, at appropriate times. But few boundaries remain. The digital bread crumbs you leave everywhere make it easy for strangers to reconstruct who you are, where you are and what you like. In some cases, a simple Google search can reveal what you think. Like it or not, increasingly we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret.

The key question is: Does that matter?

For many Americans, the answer apparently is “no.”

When pollsters ask Americans about privacy, most say they are concerned about losing it. An MSNBC.com survey, which will be covered in detail on Tuesday, found an overwhelming pessimism about privacy, with 60 percent of respondents saying they feel their privacy is “slipping away, and that bothers me.”

People do and don't care
But people say one thing and do another.

Only a tiny fraction of Americans – 7 percent, according to a recent survey by The Ponemon Institute – change any behaviors in an effort to preserve their privacy. Few people turn down a discount at toll booths to avoid using the EZ-Pass system that can track automobile movements.

And few turn down supermarket loyalty cards. Carnegie Mellon privacy economist Alessandro Acquisti has run a series of tests that reveal people will surrender personal information like Social Security numbers just to get their hands on a measly 50-cents-off coupon.

But woe to the organization that loses a laptop computer containing personal information.

When the Veterans Administration lost a laptop with 26.5 million Social Security numbers on it, the agency felt the lash of righteous indignation from the public and lawmakers alike. So, too, did ChoicePoint, LexisNexis, Bank of America, and other firms that reported in the preceding months that millions of identities had been placed at risk by the loss or theft of personal data

So privacy does matter – at least sometimes. But it’s like health: When you have it, you don’t notice it. Only when it’s gone do you wish you’d done more to protect it.

But protect what? Privacy is an elusive concept. One person’s privacy is another person’s suppression of free speech and another person’s attack on free enterprise and marketing – distinctions we will explore in detail on Wednesday, when comparing privacy in Europe and the United States.

Still, privacy is much more than an academic free speech debate. The word does not appear in the U.S. Constitution, yet the topic spawns endless constitutional arguments. And it is a wide-ranging subject, as much about terrorism as it is about junk mail. Consider the recent headlines that have dealt with just a few of its many aspects:

* Hewlett Packard executives hiring private investigators to spy on employees and journalists.
* Rep. Mark Foley sending innuendo-laden instant messages – a reminder that digital communication lasts forever and that anonymous sources can be unmasked by clever bloggers from just a few electronic clues.
* The federal government allegedly compiling a database of telephone numbers dialed by Americans, and eavesdropping on U.S. callers dialing international calls without obtaining court orders.

Privacy will remain in the headlines in the months to come, as states implement the federal government’s Real ID Act, which will effectively create a national identification program by requiring new high-tech standards for driver’s licenses and ID cards.

By Bob Sullivan
Technology correspondent
msnbc.com
updated 3:14 p.m. CT, Tues., Oct . 17, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/ns/technology_and_science-privacy_lost/

Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:25 pm » by **sockpuppet**

torofamily wrote:Privacy under attack, but does anybody care?
It's vanishing, but there's no consensus on what it is or what should be done

If you give people a solution, they may "care" more (according to what you think "care" means). But people realize that doing things that are supposed to insure privacy really don't insure anything. If my medical records are public, my civil records are public, my social security number can be hacked from any number of sources, cameras follow me around and they have my face, body, and license plate from my car on them, then what is the point of shredding a piece of paper that has my name and address on it??? If I shred, I haven't "protected" anything at all, all I have done is slightly inconvenienced the person who is gathering info on me. But since so much is in the digital age, no one but the lowest level of criminals will bother going through my garbage anyways. So it is not a case of people don't care or are too lazy. I don't even think people are completely apathetic yet. It's just that these so-called solutions really don't do anything in the big picture. If you really value your privacy, you'll get rid of your social security card, give away your car, buy a piece of land in the middle of nowhere, farm it, homeschool your kids, use only cash, never talk on the phone, never write a letter, never hook your computer to the internet...

Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:33 pm » by **Torofamily**

sockpuppet wrote:
torofamily wrote:Privacy under attack, but does anybody care?
It's vanishing, but there's no consensus on what it is or what should be done

It's just that these so-called solutions really don't do anything in the big picture. If you really value your privacy, you'll get rid of your social security card, give away your car, buy a piece of land in the middle of nowhere, farm it, homeschool your kids, use only cash, never talk on the phone, never write a letter, never hook your computer to the internet...

your right

hide and stay blind or fight
tough choice

the economy keeps most of us hostage

Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:01 am » by **Hesop**

If you can be self employed/work for cash, and by your property with owner financing, then use only cash (no loans or credit cards), you are off paper. Just stay off, once you get there. been over 16 years for me.

Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:11 am » by **Boondox681**

Like it or not, increasingly we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret.

and this is a bad thing?secrets are for people who have something to hide.i have absolutely nothing to hide.do you?and always keep this in mind...not mentioning is the same as lying.peace

Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:23 am » by **Torofamily**

boondox681 wrote:
Like it or not, increasingly we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret.

and this is a bad thing?secrets are for people who have something to hide.i have absolutely nothing to hide.do you?and always keep this in mind...not mentioning is the same as lying.peace

i dont think its so much hiding secrets as it is simple privacy

my wife takes care of the finances on line so someone somewhere can find out our purchases and know if we eat healthy, drink, smoke, pay for doctor visits, when she last bought pads and so on

Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:25 am » by **Hesop**

boondox681 wrote:
Like it or not, increasingly we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret.

and this is a bad thing?secrets are for people who have something to hide.i have absolutely nothing to hide.do you?and always keep this in mind...not mentioning is the same as lying.peace

you forgot to mention your banks routing number, and your account number..........
just saying.............. :mrgreen:

Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:31 am » by **Boondox681**

c'mon.GO TO THE BANK!problem solved.i don't do my finances online,so obviously,i don't have a problem.i don't use credit cards(never have)and i don't have a bank account(savings or checking).strictly cash.i have taken these precautions so that no one has ANY info on me.you like the convenience.you now see it comes with a price.your freedom.peace

Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:43 am » by **Govtslave**

Funny you should post this today. Yesterday, I went to Disney World with family. As we were stopped in the monorail looking down on the entrance to the park we could see the entry gates where people were having their belongings searched before they could enter the park.

Everyone was cooperating and acting as though this was just a "normal" every day thing. I turned and said to my daughter "who would have ever thought that the day would come when we would have to be searched to enter Disney World?" It reminded me of a 60 minutes type program I saw years ago about how Israelis were searched everywhere they went for fear of suicide bombers. I remember the program predicting that this would someday come to America.

I said to my daughter that we are now prisoners in our own country and we just looked at each other and shook our heads in agreement. Then the question went through my head "who do we have to destroy to stop it?"

Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:55 am » by **Boondox681**

Funny you should post this today. Yesterday, I went to Disney World with family. As we were stopped in the monorail looking down on the entrance to the park we could see the entry gates where people were having their belongings searched before they could enter the park.

Everyone was cooperating and acting as though this was just a "normal" every day thing. I turned and said to my daughter "who would have ever thought that the day would come when we would have to be searched to enter Disney World?" It reminded me of a 60 minutes type program I saw years ago about how Israelis were searched everywhere they went for fear of suicide bombers. I remember the program predicting that this would someday come to America.

I said to my daughter that we are now prisoners in our own country and we just looked at each other and shook our heads in agreement. Then the question went through my head "who do we have to destroy to stop it?"

did someone blow you and your family up that day.obviously not.you got what you wanted.you wanted to be safe and you are.if you don't like it,bring it up with homeland security.

i ammended this because i wanted to apologize for coming at you like a jerk.i was talking broadly about the country,not you personally.