Readers have had a lot to say recently about identity theft, security breaches, unregulated data brokers, and politically influential direct marketers. Not surprisingly, most of their comments indicate they see little reason to hope our privacy problems will get better any time soon.
One reason for this pessimism is the unrelenting series of news stories about privacy lapses. "My research in trying to reduce the amount of sales material I receive blossomed into a search for privacy and security," wrote one reader. "I've found that the evidence overwhelmingly shows that we simply cannot trust that those whom have access to our information will keep it private, safe, and secure. The sheer amount of identity theft reported in the media today backs up this claim. I thought of citing a few reports, but realized that there is one major identity theft or loss of data privacy incident reported in the major news media every three days!"
The political clout of the Direct Marketing Association and allies is another reason for skepticism. "I am cynical about this entire industry's chain of advertising events and about counting on them doing anything to safeguard us from exploitation from unscrupulous businesses whose sole goal is to make money instead of providing a service," wrote another reader. "Our hapless government seems powerless to assist us by providing protective legislation with enforcement teeth. If we follow the money, it would not be surprising to find that at least some of our elected legislators receive campaign contributions from the direct mail industry and are therefore beholden to them. As long as we elect the good-looking, charismatic, and well-financed political candidates instead of seeking out those with high ethics, strict honesty, and high personal values, we get what we deserve. So unless you are actively trying to fight against these types of issues effectively, you are wasting your time and your ineffective efforts limited to griping are part of the problem and not part of the solution."
Indeed, some readers fear the government is only going to make things worse. "You cannot remove your information from a Choicepoint or even limit access to it," one reader noted shortly after that story broke. "Better yet -- or worse for us -- are the Patriot Act of 2001 and the Intelligence Reform Act of 2005 and the power that these Acts allow the government and businesses to wield. You can kiss your anonymous life and lifestyle as well as your privacy goodbye. It may be too late to undo the damage done by 'right-thinking' people. You'll know it's too late when you get a U.S. Driver's license rather than a state license, passports will need to be used when traveling from state to state, and your U.S. ID will be required to deal with the Government. Oh! What am I saying? These may have already come to pass!"
And in our interconnected world, even good privacy laws may not help. "I live in Canada and we have one of the toughest privacy laws in the world," wrote a reader north of the border. "It states among other things that keeping personal information beyond a relatively short term after the person is not a client anymore is illegal. The penalties are serious. The enforcement is poor, but another trouble is the limited territorial scope of the law. For example, when my mother wanted a Home Depot credit card, she gave her phone number, and the clerk said that was the number of my father -- who has been deceased for 20 years. They kept this information far longer than the law permits! After doing some research, it appears the database is kept in the U.S. where it's perfectly legal, and the data transferred here only on need ... which makes it legal here, too."
Privacy perils show up everyday in one's mailbox. "It constantly amazes me how much the marketing people believe that they have a right to send you solicitations and to transfer liability to you," another reader wrote. "I routinely receive 'convenience checks' from the credit card companies. All one would have to do is steal these checks from my mail box, and I would suspect that my 'friendly' credit card companies won't be too sympathetic at payment time. Why is that we must opt out? The right to privacy belongs to the receiver, not the sender. I would even advocate that the sender should pay me every time my personal data is bought or sold. Isn't that what intellectual property rights are all about?"
The revelation of just a little personal information -- such as the hotel one stayed at one night -- can have surprising repercussions. "A girlfriend of mine from years ago was convicted of paternity," one reader related. "That is not a typo. She was legally found to have fathered a child, and they were preparing to garnish her wages. The legal process failed, and it was only when she went to the press that the case was reversed. All of this because someone with the same full name as her with a gender-nonspecific first name fathered the child, and they found that she had stayed at a hotel in that area during that time period. So just imagine the false accusations that can be made of ordinary average law abiding citizens with a database of the breadth and depth of what Choicepoint gathers."
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