Privacy lost - doesn't anybody care anymore?

[shesulsa]

By Bob Sullivan
Technology correspondent
MSNBC



Someday a stranger will read your e-mail, rummage through your instant messages without your permission or scan the Web sites you’ve visited — maybe even find out that you read this story.
You might be spied in a lingerie store by a secret camera or traced using a computer chip in your car, your clothes or your skin.
Perhaps someone will casually glance through your credit card purchases or cell phone bills, or a political consultant might select you for special attention based on personal data purchased from a vendor.
In fact, it’s likely some of these things have already happened to you.
Who would watch you without your permission? It might be a spouse, a girlfriend, a marketing company, a boss, a cop or a criminal. Whoever it is, they will see you in a way you never intended to be seen — the 21st century equivalent of being caught naked.
Psychologists tell us boundaries are healthy, that it’s important to reveal yourself to friends, family and lovers in stages, at appropriate times. But few boundaries remain. The digital bread crumbs you leave everywhere make it easy for strangers to reconstruct who you are, where you are and what you like. In some cases, a simple Google search can reveal what you think. Like it or not, increasingly we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret.
The key question is: Does that matter?
For many Americans, the answer apparently is “no.”

FULL ARTICLE

Good question.

I've read and heard many people say, "I have nothing to hide." And to that, I say bull ****. Everyone has something they want to hide.

Privacy is headed down that steep embankment towards the valley Gone. Do you care? And what are you willing to do about it?

 

[heretic888]

I've read and heard many people say, "I have nothing to hide." And to that, I say bull ****. Everyone has something they want to hide.

Even if a person truly does have "nothing to hide", that does not give others the right to invade your privacy whenever they feel like doing so.

That would be like saying that you should only have Freedom of Speech if you have "something to say". It doesn't work like that.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[michaeledward]

I have decided that I have had enough. I travel quite a bit for work. Work provides a laptop for me to do work. But, when I am in a hotel, after work hours, and want to check my email, or ebay, or even, maybe, some adult web sites - like Martialtalk - (have you seen those threads in the After Hours area?) - I don't want my employer knowing about it.

So, I just ordered, not 15 minutes ago, the USB Keys to build this ...

http://www.travelingforever.com/democrakey.htm

Do you value your privacy?

Your rights are quickly being erased by your government. The majority of people don't know it, but most countries are building the infrastructure to monitor their citizens 24/7. China has completely blocked all access to Google.com. It's citizens are only allowed to view a highly censored version of Google made specifically for their citizens. In the US, George Bush recently met with the heads of Google, Microsoft, AT&T, and more technology companies to implement two year long backlogs of all information available to the US at their request. That means the US will be able to search through, at their will, without warrants, all your web searches and phone calls, searching for questionable actions in the past two years.

http://www.travelingforever.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=45

To build your own privacy key, cost nothing.

I'm on it.



Signed - phantom user formerly known as michaeledward

 

[SFC JeffJ]

Without privacy, what are our other rights worth? No, there is no "right to privacy" built into the Bill of Rights, but the founding fathers were wise enough to acknowledge there that they could not possibly enumerate all of our rights. It really upsets me when people say I don't care, the government can monitor me all they want, 'cause that's just the beginning of the end.

Thanks for the link Michael,

Jeff

 

[Bob Hubbard]

"people willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both" - Benjamin Franklin

 

[Kacey]

A disturbing concept... and disturbingly ignored by the majority of people. Thanks for posting this topic.

 

[MA-Caver]

Whell, not all privacy is lost is it? The only place I can think of that would be the most secure, unbreachable, most private places is our minds and our hearts. I don't believe that there are those who can read another's thoughts... except through careful deduction and pretty damn good guess work. They'll read our hearts only through our actions and the things we say, but they'll never know all the secrets our hearts and our minds carry... unless we choose to tell them.
Through this forum and others, blogs, myspace and dozens of other means we reveal bits and pieces of ourselves but it's doubtful that we reveal our whole selves. Through our live interactions with others (face to face) we'll do the same thing but we'll never reveal everything. Even with our loved ones (family, spouses, closest friends) we don't tell EVERYTHING.
Who are they? Whomever reads/hears whatever we choose to reveal.

So what we choose to reveal they will know.
We should at least have that comfort should most of what we want to keep private is known.

 

[BlackCatBonz]

Whell, not all privacy is lost is it? The only place I can think of that would be the most secure, unbreachable, most private places is our minds and our hearts. I don't believe that there are those who can read another's thoughts... except through careful deduction and pretty damn good guess work. They'll read our hearts only through our actions and the things we say, but they'll never know all the secrets our hearts and our minds carry... unless we choose to tell them.
Through this forum and others, blogs, myspace and dozens of other means we reveal bits and pieces of ourselves but it's doubtful that we reveal our whole selves. Through our live interactions with others (face to face) we'll do the same thing but we'll never reveal everything. Even with our loved ones (family, spouses, closest friends) we don't tell EVERYTHING.
Who are they? Whomever reads/hears whatever we choose to reveal.

So what we choose to reveal they will know.
We should at least have that comfort should most of what we want to keep private is known.

sometimes they can use persuasive tactics to make you reveal what you would rather not reveal.

in fact, with the new laws they passed, my bet is they could make things come out of your mouth that you didnt think possible.

 

[Ceicei]

sometimes they can use persuasive tactics to make you reveal what you would rather not reveal.

in fact, with the new laws they passed, my bet is they could make things come out of your mouth that you didnt think possible.

Not "1984" please!

 

[HKphooey]

If one is that worried about computer privacy, I would not use that media! It is one of the easiest to hack and monitor. So why use it?
Same with cell phones... Why would you be that ingnorant to think someone is not monitoring your calls. And it is not just the government. I would be more concerned that someone with malicious intent is not stealing your info. I think, we as Americans, have gotten way to lazy and lax with our private information. If someone wants the information that bad they are going to find a way to get it.

Second, if you take what you find on Google as gospel, you deserve to have your content filtered.

As for your work laptop... does they company supply it to you? If so they have every right to monitor your interent activity. It is their property and you can do possible harm to the systems by visiting certain websites.

And take this forum for example... If someone does not follow the rules, they are banned. It is for everyone else benefit and safety. Is that not infringment on their freedom of speech rights. (And now someone is going to say it is a private company. Well, so is Google).

I think the goverment can take things too far sometimes, but so can the American public.

 

[michaeledward]

Why would you be that ingnorant to think someone is not monitoring your calls. And it is not just the government.

Although I have never been able to properly source the quote ... I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said, at the founding of our nation;

"Gentlemen do not open letters addressed to other gentlemen."
​

That is reported to be the source of the Fourth Amendment. And, as I recall, the discussion may have been about not including the Fourth Amendment in the Constitution; because it was common knowledge, and common good behavior to extend such courtesy.

I don't think of it as "ignorant" to believe the government is staying out of my telephone calls - I think of it as patriotic.

 

[HKphooey]

Although I have never been able to properly source the quote ... I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said, at the founding of our nation;

"Gentlemen do not open letters addressed to other gentlemen."​

That is reported to be the source of the Fourth Amendment. And, as I recall, the discussion may have been about not including the Fourth Amendment in the Constitution; because it was common knowledge, and common good behavior to extend such courtesy.

I don't think of it as "ignorant" to believe the government is staying out of my telephone calls - I think of it as patriotic.

I totally see your side. Whether it be the government or private companies, we are being monitored. Tivo got busted a few years back for selling demographics information. I bet they are still doing it, but just got smarter not to be som obvious. Sign up for some software on the internnet and play close attention to future websites you visit. Most know the location of your computer ans sometimes all your info. I just think we have become too lazy with our information.

If you were in the miltary and had to deliver classified information would you:
A) Write the info on a piece of paper and fold it up and give to a friend to deliver
B) Place the info in an email and use a friend's computer to send the email.
C) Place the info on paper, put in a sealed envelope and send via US mail.
D) Place in a sealed envelope and hand-deliver to the recipient?

I would have to say D. So when someone is so lazy to go to a bank once a week and uses the interent to do their banking, that is their problem. When someone does a search for illegal child porn and gets caught, that is their own fault. If someone gets caught on dateline trying to pick up my 13 year old niece, that was there choice.

As I said before, the government is not the only ones out there. I would be more concerned with the thieves looking to steal your information or blackmail you with information they collect.

And no, I do not think the goverment has the right to monitor anyhting they want. I think there need to be checks and balances.

 

[FearlessFreep]

Although I have never been able to properly source the quote ... I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said, at the founding of our nation;
"Gentlemen do not open letters addressed to other gentlemen."

Actually, I beleive it was told to Franklin by the British government because Franklin had been sending letters to them from..I think a judge or someone else of authority from Mass. trying to get the Brits to realize that things were going downhill in the colonies (at the time, Franklin was still hoping to hold off a revolution), and they turned it on him.

 

[arnisador]

Yesterday our new health care plan sent us their privacy policy. There were 4 pages of people to whom they could/would release our medical info. Very depressing.

 

[arnisador]

"Gentlemen do not open letters addressed to other gentlemen."

A famous event from the history of American cryptography:

"Gentlemen do not read one another's mail." So said Secretary of State Henry Stimson (at least according to myth) in 1929 as he shut down the famous Black Chamber MI-8 code-breaking operation.

(I found it here.) I think it referred to a diplomatic cable being routed through Mexico; James Bamford's first NSA book tells the story, I think.

 

[terryl965]

WEll it looks like the government just want to keep tabs on me and why not I'm a handsome person maybe one day I'll even get paid to be this good looking that everybody wants to know what I'm doing all the time.

On the real side enough is enough, I need my privacy

 

[Ping898]

I believe slowly we are loosing out privact and right to privacy and what pisses me off is the second someone complains about it, those who are taking our privacy from us claim that this is for the good of the nation to stop terrorists or child porn and that we must obviously support whatever if we do not willingly give up this right. Or at least that is what is seems to me happens.

I think people care about the loss of privacy, problem is two fold though a)most of them are not the people in a position to do anything about it b) those who care are not organized in some way to force a change by the people in power.

 

[Blotan Hunka]

Everybody is concerned about their privacy untill their child is mollested by an internet predator or a plane flys into their loved ones building. Then its the gvts fault for not tracking or spying on THOSE guys. You want the gvt to stop, simple, stop bitching that they arent doing enough to spy on the people we want them to spy on.

 

[heretic888]

Everybody is concerned about their privacy untill their child is mollested by an internet predator or a plane flys into their loved ones building. Then its the gvts fault for not tracking or spying on THOSE guys. You want the gvt to stop, simple, stop bitching that they arent doing enough to spy on the people we want them to spy on.

Yeah, guys, just trust the government has your best interests in mind. Remember, Big Brother is watching out for you. Always.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

Everybody is concerned about their privacy untill their child is mollested by an internet predator or a plane flys into their loved ones building. Then its the gvts fault for not tracking or spying on THOSE guys. You want the gvt to stop, simple, stop bitching that they arent doing enough to spy on the people we want them to spy on.

Price of living in a free society and all that. And I think it's well worth the cost.

Jeff