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Silicon Valley vs. Your Privacy
TreeRat submits word of an article in the New York Times' magazine section, including mention of the proposed national database which has been talked about on Slashdot before. "The story goes into great detail with Larry Ellison, who is still pushing hard to bring 'Big Brother' to life. When asked if this database will be created, and run on Oracle, Larry's response was 'I do think it will exist, and I think it is going to be an Oracle database. ...And we're going to track everything.' There's a lot more than Ellison in this piece, though, and much of it is scary.
It's not the first time I post it, but this time it makes more sense:
ORACLE = One Rich Asshole Called Larry Ellison
Eccentric... and he looks like a James Bond villain... You suppose he has some secret submarine in the carribean loaded with hundreds of rackmounted servers running this database? I'm scared... eccentric pinhead...
You know what bugs me about Oracle though... nothing philosophical... its all the little SQL "enhancements" they provide that I find when looking at someone else's SQL query. I thought languages were supposed to be standardized. There are a few other DB's that do it too... Nothing big but it bugs me when I run into it.
"Oh yes, Mr. Bond. I do think it will exist. And I think it is going to be an O.R.A.C.L.E. database... and we're going to track everything. And then, my dear Mr. Bond, I shall rule the world!"
Yes. And if your idea got through, it might even be that way for a month. But once the infrastructure to collect the data is in place, it is the silliest of idealism to think that the "your data would be deleted after you left the airport" clause would last ten years.
Social Security numbers were NEVER supposed to be used for anything but retirement accounts - and people who claimed they would someday be used as identification were called paranoid.
You say: This is compromise. I have an idea. I want you to send me $100, you don't want to send me anything, so why not just send me $50? This is compromise, too.
Giving people the power to take away your rights is not "compromise", it is capitulation
God is real unless declared integer
As usual, you can generate a random New York Times login every time with the registration generator I threw together. Share and enjoy.