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Privacy Resolutions for the New Year
Chris Hoofnagle writes "EPIC has released ten privacy resolutions for the New Year. In addition to losing weight next year, lose all those data brokers who are after your bits."
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I wonder if EPIC has anything to do with this scary-yet-insightful video-flash movie.
So why isn't your email publically available in Slashdot?
Welcome to the no-privacy age!
Disclaimer: yes, you are correct in questioning my mental sanity. But then again, insanity is just a different view of reality, right?
From the Privacy Resolutions:
I can understand why people want anti-spyware when running on windows boxes, since they also do a good job with cleaning recent files and such.
I can also understand why people would want firewalls for privacy. They're more convenient than actually locking down all ports and services manually
But anti-virus? And as a privacy measure? I don't get this. I have run without anti-virus for almost seven years, on various Windows boxes. I have never been virus-infected.
Whenever I am called out to do virus disaster recovery, it's almost always for people who have an antivirus solution installed. When are people going to drink the kool-aid, and understand that anti-virus solutions don't help.
My advice would rather go something like this: Set up your mail client so it won't auto-infect you by receiving mail. Don't open attachments. Don't install warez. Don't be so freakin' naive and gullible. Stop believing strangers send you naked Britneys.
http://virtuelvis.com/
Don't ever click the unsubscribe links from those annoying emails.
Read all your mails in text based mail client (MUA) to get rid of those bugs crafted in HTML code to trace your activity.
So sweet. This is the best /. story this year because it can get rid of all those credit card offers.
I called up the phone number in step 5 and was notified of a web site that would remove credit card offers and insurance offers for 5 years or permanently!
Guess what I signed up for?
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
So sweet. Less junk mail is a good thing.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
Cashiers who ask for info? Tell them they don't need it. And repeat "Here's your money" like a broken toy, it helps!
If you work for a retailer and are forced to ask, ask politely if the client wish to give some info. I'm just a client and I really appreciate when I'm asked instead of trying to answering their threatening demands.
Grab a clean razor and dig the RFID tag out of your forearm.
To understand recursion, you must first understand recursion.
Protect Your Privacy in The New Year!
1. Engage in "privacy self defense." Don't share any personal information with businesses unless it is absolutely necessary (for delivery of an item, etc.). Don't give your phone number, address, or name to retail stores. If you do, they can sell that information or use it for telemarketing and junk mail. If they ask for your information, say "it's none of your business," or give "John Doe, 555-1212, 123 Main St." Don't return product warranty cards. Don't complete consumer surveys even if they appear to be anonymous. Profilers can build in barely-perceptible codes that link you to the survey, and this data goes straight to direct marketers.
2. Pay with cash where possible. Electronic transactions leave a detailed dossier of your activities that can be accessed by the government or sold to telemarketers. Paying with cash is one of the best ways to protect privacy and stay out of debt.
3. Install anti-spyware, anti-virus, and firewall software on your computer. If your computer is connected to the Internet, it is a target of malicious viruses and spyware. There are free spyware-scanning utilities available online, and anti-virus software is probably a necessary investment if you own a Windows-based PC. Firewalls keep unwanted people out of your computer and detect when malicious software on your own machine tries to communicate with others.
4. Use a temporary rather than a permanent change of address. If you move in 2005, be sure to forward your mail by using a temporary change of address order rather than a permanent one. The junk mailers have access to the permanent change of address database; they use it to update their lists. By using the temporary change of address, you'll avoid unwanted junk mail.
5. Opt out of prescreened offers of credit. By calling 1-888-567-8688, you can stop receiving those annoying letters for credit and insurance offers. This is an important step for protecting your privacy, because those offers can be intercepted by identity thieves.
6. Choose Supermarkets that Don't Use Loyalty Cards. Be loyal to supermarkets that offer discounts without requiring enrollment in a loyalty club. If you have to use a supermarket shopping card, be sure to exchange it with your friends or with strangers.
7. Opt out of financial, insurance, and brokerage information sharing. Be sure to call all of your banks, insurance companies, and brokerage companies and ask to opt out of having your financial information shared. This will cut down on the telemarketing and junk mail that you receive.
8. Request a free copy of your credit report by visiting http://www.annualcreditreport.com. All Americans are now entitled to a free credit report from each of the three nationwide credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. You can engage in a free form of credit monitoring by requesting one of your three reports every four months. By staggering your request, you can check for errors regularly and identify potential problems in your credit report before you lose out on a loan or home purchase. Currently, these reports are available to residents of most western states. By September 2005, all Americans will have free access to their credit report.
9. Enroll all of your phone numbers in the Federal Trade Commission's Do-Not-Call Registry. The Do-Not-Call Registry (http://www.donotcall.gov or 1-888-382-1222) offers a quick and effective shield against unwanted telemarketing. Be sure to enroll the numbers for your wireless phones, too.
10. File a complaint. If you believe a company has violated your privacy, contact the Federal Trade Commission, your state Attorney General, and the Better Business Bureau. Successful investigations improve privacy protections for all consumers.
Personally, I do care about privacy. Or rather, I would if it was conceivably possible to have any, but as Scott McNealy accurately said back in 1999, there is no privacy, get over it. He's right unfortunately...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Maybe that will void your warranty?
you don't want a marketer to know what brand of condom you prefer, even if there is no practical consequence. Well, and I say, fuck it, I don't care.
Dear Sir,
We at Foo Health Insurance have reviewed your personal customer file. It appears you use condoms from the SuperStrong[tm] brand, which is statistically consistent with a promiscuous sex life. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, and to better serve you, we have cross-checked your medical claims file and successfully determined that you have started taking tri-therapies recently. What's more, your credit record seems to indicate that you would be better served by another health insurance company. We therefore regret to inform you that you will no longer be able to enroll in your current plan. Please find enclosed a list of plans you are eligible to.
Regards,
Joe S. Bastard, Foo H.I., Inc.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
We know. Please wear it. Its perfectly safe and secure. Please put it on now. Stop picking your nose too, please.
rewriting history since 2109
I have found that they always accept "no" for an answer. However, you could always ask them back - "You give me your number first."
IMHO some of these are bordering on paranioa..
* " Don't return product warranty cards."
Maybe that will void your warranty?
Bull. Go back to the store you purchased your faulty device at and they'll take it back under warranty. No warranty card needed.
* " If you have to use a supermarket shopping card, be sure to exchange it with your friends or with strangers. "
Why not? If nothing else, you'll help your friends/strangers save money and preserve their own personal data, and you'll boost your points rating.
* " Pay with cash where possible. Electronic transactions leave a detailed dossier of your activities that can be accessed by the government or sold to telemarketers. "
Many police cases are solved by following credit card trails. Even the WTC terrorists could have been stopped by following their credit card activities. So I expect you'll say "fine, I'm no criminal! why should I worry?". Well, maybe you'll think about it next time you go buy a bottle of scotch at your local convenience store late at night, and the FBI come banging at your door a week later when it turns out that convenience store was held by Ali Bin Terror and they're arresting and detaining everybody who has been in contact with him, "just in case".
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Engage in "privacy self defense." Don't share any personal information with businesses unless it is absolutely necessary
Or... Give them disposable information that allows you to cease hearing from them, or know when/if they have distributed your information without consent.
To this end, I highly recommend Spam Gourmet which allows the on-the-fly creation of disposable email addresses.
If you walk into McDonalds and really want to sign up for their win a free cheeseburger contest, you give them an email address like cheesy.n.youraccount@spamgourmet.com and you will only ever receive 'n' emails to that address before it dies.
Of course if you then receive emails from Pizza Hut, you know exactly where they got the email from.
If you never want to hear from the person, give them this address: me@privacy.net.
Any emails sent to that address receive a reply to the effect of: "whoever gave you this address didn't want you to have theirs".
Useful stuff!
Indy Media Watch-Proctologist of the Internet
Then when your employer, the **AA, Microsoft, the FBI, or your spouse starts complaining about what thet found due to our lack of privacy, you could say "It might have been the PlausDen.A virus - not me!"
Not that I personally want this virus installed on my system... I just want the possibility that I may have had the virus.
"* " Don't return product warranty cards." Maybe that will void your warranty?" If any Australians re eeading this, it would be illegal for the distributor/manufacturer to not honour their warranty if you haven't sent your warranty card in. A docket is sufficient to gain warranty.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/metricmusic
Shee, some of this reads more like instructions for spies trying to survive in hostile territory.
Now, I've long believed that the best response to some clerk asking for my address on a cash deal is, "why?" or, "I already get your catalogs." I'm already *in their store*, so no further advertising is needed, eh? I wish there was some way for the clerk to get that fact into the store's database.
But there are some things about me that I would dearly love to have marketing folk know and share widely. I'm not a 59-year-old retired veteran, for example. I have no actual or legitimate theoretical interest in offers "for singles only." There's lots of stuff I'm not buying, not just from you, but not from your competitors either -- maybe it's because I don't want it at all? I don't smoke at all, or encourage others to, so why would I care that you are selling expensive imported cigars?
Anyone studying me in detail would see that I tend to actively preserve my unawareness of types of products that I don't use until I decide to use them, then do my own research and usually end up with one that's *not* heavily promoted. I wish some people would dig *that* out of their data mines.
"These days it's all secrecy, and no privacy..."
Mick Jagger wrote that line in a song called Fingerprint file, in 1974.
Don't believe this "privacy is dead" stuff. The data companies want you to believe this. The fact is, we've regained some privacy as a result of several federal privacy laws (most notably, the do not call registry) and laws passed in California. A 1999 law made it more difficult for companies to get and sell SSNs. We're making progress here, and if you follow just some of the resolutions, you will put a serious damper on the ability of data brokers to track you.
The enduring problem is information assymetry--they know how to collect data about you in subtle ways. For instance, just giving a clerk your telephone number enables the company to call Acxiom or Experian and use "enhancement" to get your real name, addresss, and email. If we want to slow this down, we need to become more costive with our data. Merry Xmas, Chris from EPIC.
IMHO they are the ones who walk around in tin foil hats.
e direc t.html
:-/
Despite all their privacy ranting on how the world is trying to guess the size of your penis....
Note the link for http://www.annualcreditreport.com
actually links to:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/fcra/freereportr
That's right... they redirect, and that link only. Hmm... they aren't doing any sort of tracking are they?
Put the tin foil hats back on, and get back in the blast shelter.
I have found that they always accept "no" for an answer. However, you could always ask them back - "You give me your number first."
Hmm might try that next time I get the hot chick at Best Buy
Even the WTC terrorists could have been stopped by following their credit card activities.
Do you really beleive that's true? I don't.
This might be an interesting read.
Nope don't do the warranty card. Do read it, but, 99.9% of the time, it is NOT needed to get your warranty, and it is used for NOTHING more than compiling information on you. I used to work for Acxiom years back...a company in Conway ,AR that has information on about 98% of the people in the US. This was 7 years ago...they are working worldwide now. They told us about the warranty card thing...back then, I looked...most of them were pre-addressed to the same address.
Acxiom, which integrates data from warranty cards, change of address, states that sell drivers license info...and any other source...uses all this to find you. They use this to 'clean' other companies' databases to track you. They sell this info..to pretty much whoever wants it. CC companies, insurance companies...and most all the credit bureaus. Hell, I think they used to have financial ties to Trans Union itself.
One of my last projects there, was to take data they got from ordering telephone books from the states...cutting off the binders, and running them through optical scanners. I was writing code to put it into a relational database to run against the big iron they had there....
So, no, don't be paranoid...but, do be aware...your data...any of it is being used and looked at and sold by someone.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........