Maryland Blogger alliance
The Maryland Blogger Alliance
That sucking sound you've been hearing all week
It has been not quite a decade since Scott McNealy (then of Sun Microsystems) told a crowd of reporters, "You have zero privacy; get over it."
That sucking sound you've been hearing all week is what's left of your privacy and freedom, circling the drain.
Monday the postman brought a "privacy policy" notice from Verizon, our internet service provider, that reveals this company has granted itself the permission to monitor everything that passes from my computers through their servers, on the suspicion I might be a terrorist or child pornography collector.
Tuesday the postman brought another such notice, from a company with which I have a few dollars invested. This notice revealed that if the company asks a consumer-reporting agency for information about me, that agency "may keep it and share it with others who use their services," with no limitation upon who these others might be. More tellingly, it revealed the presence of something called the Medical Information Bureau. This outfit, which usually goes by the more innocuous monniker MIB Group, Inc., justifies its existence thus:
"...persons whose health problems or hazardous avocations pose greater insurability risks should pay more than those who present a lower risk. (emphasis added)
Persons who unknowingly, or in some cases knowingly, withhold or give incomplete or erroneous information on insurance applications, cost the insurance-buying public billions. MIB serves in the role of an "advocate" for those persons who fairly and accurately report their information with the insurance companies and who are being penalized by, and are indirectly subsidizing, those who would intentionally or unintentionally defraud the system."
The existence of this shadowy group explains (although without adequate justification) why when I go to Walgreen's to buy prescription medicine, the pharmacy tech can pull up a list of every other medication that has been prescribed to me over the last five to seven years. Oddly enough, another federal regulation called HIPAA required my family doctor to get my written permission to have his office staff leave a message on my answering machine merely confirming an appointment, and to have the office nurse take my temperature and blood pressure behind closed doors (instead of in an anteroom to the reception area), on the off chance she might inadvertantly utter my vital signs as she's writing them down, and that someone with malicious intent might be lurking around the corner to write them down and use them against me. (By reporting them to the Medical Information Bureau, for example.)
Wednesday's mail brought another notice, this one from MetLife, which issues my paltry pension check. This notice, among other things, said that "We may also need...information about finances, employment hobbies (emphasis added) or business conducted with us...or with other companies." This little bomb was followed by a statement that MetLife reserves the right to get information form "other sources," including "adult relatives." That opens the door to a world of mischief from estranged spouses and participants in other forms of family feuds (none of which, blessedly, exist in my own family.) MetLife also mentions, in passing, that "Other reasons we may disclose what we know about you include...Doing what a court or government agency requires us to do; for example, complying with a search warrant or subpoena." Nowhere in the reassuring document does the company promise that it will inform me that a Government Agency has inquired about me.
Finally, an email received Thursday pointed me to an article in PC World revealing that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has asserted that it can search laptops and other electronic devices owned by U.S. citizens returning to the country without the need for reasonable suspicion of a crime or probable cause. (emphasis added, but read that again!) This news article has drawn some comments, among which appear to indicate that people have missed something important:
- The laptop search will become pointless. Anything illegal that can be put on a laptop can also be emailed across the border.
- Do you have any idea how many laws are on the books that aren't enforced simply because they're pointless? What difference does it make whether or not they're allowed to do something if it's a waste of time to actually DO it? Before long they'll realize they don't have the manpower to waste time doing the ineffective. Tell that to those TSA screeners at the airport.
- It is a great tool to aid the officers who are fighting to keep this country safe. You might not like it but there are some bad people out there. From child rapists, molesters, spies and yes terrorists trying to smuggle in all sorts of illegal digital work or images. Men who go on sex tours have come back with child porn on there digital devices. Think of it as a way of keeping the honest man honest when he travels abroad. I am sure you would agree that every effort should be expended to protect our children from these predators?
- Customs officers searching your laptop is no different than Customs officers searching your bags, books, or paper records. So much for that antiquated notion that "The People...shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects" unless someone in the executive branch (law enforcement) can demonstrate to someone in the judiciary branch (a judge) a damn good reason for snooping, and what exactly they are hoping to find.
In short, the readers of PC World seem more concerned about being inconvenienced than about being violated.
Now if you will excuse me, someone is banging heavily on my front door...