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Take Big Brother on Vacation with You
An anonymous reader writes "Book a flight or a rental car, and that trip and your companions' names, where you stay, what you eat, your bed size preference, in-room movie preference, and just about anything else you get a receipt for is etched in stone."
There will be people wanting to access it. And you can bet government will be one of them.
It was just a matter of time as soon as all these databases were compiled that the government sought to legitimately get access to them. (I personally think that they already have/have access to all of this data, they simply wish to make it legal now.)
What is the answer? I'm not sure, how can you stop people from collecting information about you? This is the Information Age we are living in right now. (Yes there are ways, but such as it is that type of behavior is going to be legislated away as "acting like a terrorist" soon I'm sure.) Maybe there is no current solution, maybe it's a phase that our society has to go though in order to realize that keeping track of everyone all the time is something that we really don't want in our lives...or maybe Orwell was right.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
Here is another stunning example of why we need true e-cash. Anonymous E-cash, just like good ol greenbacks but useable in the new (and still under constant development) E-conomy.
Sure they say they will only use systems and tracking and cataloging and databases for limited uses and data types. Yeah right! Since when has the govt ever been handed a power and has handed it back after its orignal purpose has been fulfilled. I can't think of one sitting here writing this post. Once the system is built and limited powers have been granted, kiss off the rest 'cuz it is only a matter of time before the system/govt gets its fingers in the whole pie...
Right, wrong, irrelevent. What is, is.
Yeah true. By looking at my blog and online photo album (which isn't hidden) then yeah you can get a lot about me. Of course if you have you own domain name then I might even be able to get your home address/phone number without even break a sweat
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
Sure, much of that info can come out of your garbage, but there are a few differences. First, I can take steps to control what gets put in my garbage. If there is something I really don't want people to know, I can take steps to dispose of it more securely (ex: burn it).
Another difference is that collecting info by going through a garbage can takes active steps on the government's part. They don't have the resources to go through everyone's garbage, so they focus on those they are really interested in. When they are actively focusing on a particular individual, they are more likely to get the data correct (if a mistake is made, someone is focusing on it and is more likely to notice it). On the other hand, with a passive data collection system like this, they just throw bulk data into the database. Nobody is paying any attention to 99% of the data that comes in. If it contains bad info, nobody really notices. Then when your name erroniously comes up in a search later (due to bad data), nobody knows anything about that data. Nobody knows the context in which it was entered (you only bought Catcher in the Rye as an English class reading assignment), or whether you actually did buy the Anarchist's Cookbook (that wasn't you). Next thing you know, before you even have a chance to sort things out, you're a "material witness" in solitary confinement in a federal lockup.
This reminds me of the ancient city of Babylon, where the authorities also collected information (to govern better...). What happened was, that at some point they couldn't handle it anymore. The information they collected was out-dated already after the request was issued. In the end, their bureaucracy dealed mostly with collecting and storing information, not governing. Oh yeah, and they wrote it all on clay plates, which they kept in large storehouses. When the city fell and was burned down, the storehouses were burned, too - effectively preserving the clay plates for thousands of years (they were discovered in the 20th century - real datamining ;).
Hell is not other people; it is yourself. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
With so much information passing through Government data banks, a major problem that's gonna crop up sooner or later is how to sift through the junk and get to the significant data. I mean hey, if they're just going to be anal retentives and spend all day keeping track of people's sexual preferences, they're going to miss out on the juicy stuff (like who's been buying nitroglycerine by the quart.) So, maybe the sheer volume of information they get is going to insure us our privacy in the short term. If this sort of thing continue's, look out for data mining becoming the next big thing 2 years from now.
I have found a truly wonderful proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, but unfortunately this sig is too small to contain it.
Glasser said civil liberties advocates should instead focus on pointing out proven problems in proposed surveillance systems. "You cannot go out and argue that privacy is important when everyone is afraid," he said. "But point out where the scams are, why these proposals will not make anything safer, and people will listen."
This is probably the sanest bit of advice I have heard in a long time. Bottom line is neither side is going to agree wholely with the other. The Privacy Freedom folks will see any collection of such information as invasive, and the Security and Safety folks will always think that the Privacy people don't see the big picture and some sacrifices must be made. Looking at the situation from a realistic point of view, without the personal moralities and agendas is the only way anything will get done.
Fuzzy Knights: New RPG Strips Tuesday and Friday!:
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I don't see how this will encourage tourists to fly, nor even to travel at all. All the air passengers now are business class who must fly, or change their jobs. The airlines need not wonder about why they're going bankrupt.
Ed Craig "Who cares what you think?" George W. Bush, 4th of July 2001
E cash is fine, but what about real cash? Ya know folding money. Thats impossible to track and untill they take off the phrase "for all debts public and private" the government isent going to be able to do squat.
"It's so convenient to have a system where everyone is a criminal" - A. Hitler
or find nothing, and say that they did.
no one knows what goes on in these black boxes, or who really controls how they are constructed and operated. the whole operation is a black box which spits out names.
and accusations.
if they don't find something, they'll make it up.
they won't even have to say what is was that they made up because that would compromise security.
secret police with a secret agenda.
"we're with homeland secutity, ma'am"
"we'd like you to come down to the station and answer a few questions"
"what have i done"
"we can't tell you, but it's bad. real bad."
in a land that's known as freedom how can such a thing be fair?
and 70% of my fellow americans are supporting the president who is doing it.
what is happening to america? is the statute of liberty so shellshocked that she averts her eyes from the insults being thrust at our beloved constitution?
what sort of liberty are we asking our brave young men and women to kill and die for?
support our troops, demand the truth.
I just don't get it. Call me dumb, but I don't understand these laws... or how they think they get away from them.
Whatever the administration thinks, they have not killed individual rights / privacy advocates. Yes, the threat of being called 'terrorists' or branded as something near has silenced some of them, since 9/11 and the "War on Terror."
However... think Marx's socialist revolution. Eventually, if the people get their ideals, hopes, and dreams pushed down too much, they will rebel. I believe that it is only a matter of time before people get fed up with having the government destroying their privacy. And we will have a semi-revolution. Eventually, people will decide this isn't good for them. And opposing it isn't unpatriotic, or terrorism, or whatever the brand happens to be at that time.
Eventually, you take away enough, and people realize they have nothing left to lose.
"UK/European laws can not be applied to the USA, so what's your point?"
Airlines who implement such a system will be banned from using European airports. Read the article.
Data protection laws apply to the UK. If you don't abide by them, you can't do business in the UK, and that includes using our airports. European legislation applies to most of the rest of Europe, and unlike some areas of the world, Europe is trying to avoid becoming a police state. Something to do with the convention on human rights, I believe.
One of my (ex-) father-in-law(s) is running from the IRS and has been doing so for years. One day, several years ago, my wife tells me her mom and husband are going to be staying with us for a month. Then it is time for them to move on. They want to go visit another of their children, and the best way to get there is Amtrak (Federal US passenger rail service). So I make the ticket purchase, and the Amtrak website asks for the names of the passengers. I put my home address for where the tickets were to be mailed.
Months later, the IRS (Federal Taxation Department) sends letters to my home address, in care of my ex-father-in-law.
I was able to truthfully send the letters back, stating 'not at this address, whereabouts unknown'. But still, it opened my eyes about information sharing and the Feds.
"The most sensible request of government we make is not, "Do something!" But "Quit it!"
First, who says you have to give *accurate* information for your supermarket store discount cards, or to anyone else trolling for consumer data? Safeway has something similar to my real name and an address that isn't quite right.
Take every opportunity to fill out consumer surveys completely wrong. This can be entertaining if you try to make the data as contradictory as possible.
Third, and most importantly, when consumer goods are easily substitutable (think soda, soap, canned goods, shoes, and just about everything) do not EVER be brand loyal. After all, they're all about the same. Make your buying habits capricious and unpredictable; this completely negates all the marketing crap and destroys their predictions.
If the data becomes unrelaible, inaccurate and, more than anything, a big waste of time and money, they'll stop doing it.
IAAL