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Originally posted by Geezer:
-How far you think your right of privacy goes.

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-Who you think is responsible for maintaining and enforcing your right to privacy.

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-What laws or statutes you believe enumerate your privacy rights.

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He was referring to the recent decision by him and his wife to be responsible, to do the kind of thing that just about anyone would say makes good, solid financial sense. They paid down some debt. The balance on their JCPenney Platinum MasterCard had gotten to an unhealthy level. So they sent in a large payment, a check for $6,522.

And an alarm went off. A red flag went up. The Soehnges' behavior was found questionable. And all they did was pay down their debt. They didn't call a suspected terrorist on their cell phone. They didn't try to sneak a machine gun through customs. They just paid a hefty chunk of their credit card balance. And they learned how frighteningly wide the net of suspicion has been cast.

After sending in the check, they checked online to see if their account had been duly credited. They learned that the check had arrived, but the amount available for credit on their account hadn't changed...

"When you mess with my money, I want to know why," he said... They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that ... if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. ... He learned about changes in something called the Bank Privacy Act.

"The more I'm on, the scarier it gets," he said. "It's scary how easily someone in Homeland Security can get permission to spy." Eventually, his and his wife's money was freed up. The Soehnges were apparently found not to be promoting global terrorism under the guise of paying a credit-card bill. They never did learn how a large credit card payment can pose a security threat. But the experience has been a reminder that a small piece of privacy has been surrendered. Walter Soehnge, who says he holds solid, middle-of-the-road American beliefs, worries about rights being lost.

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... an NSA agent showed up at the San Francisco switching center in 2002 to interview a management-level technician for a special job. In January 2003, Klein observed a new room being built adjacent to the room housing AT&T's #4ESS switching equipment, which is responsible for routing long distance and international calls.

"I learned that the person whom the NSA interviewed for the secret job was the person working to install equipment in this room," Klein wrote. "The regular technician work force was not allowed in the room."

Klein's job eventually included connecting internet circuits to a splitting cabinet that led to the secret room. During the course of that work, he learned from a co-worker that similar cabinets were being installed in other cities, including Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.

"While doing my job, I learned that fiber optic cables from the secret room were tapping into the Worldnet (AT&T's internet service) circuits by splitting off a portion of the light signal," Klein wrote. The split circuits included traffic from peering links connecting to other internet backbone providers, meaning that AT&T was also diverting traffic routed from its network to or from other domestic and international providers, according to Klein's statement.

The secret room also included data-mining equipment called a Narus STA 6400, "known to be used particularly by government intelligence agencies because of its ability to sift through large amounts of data looking for preprogrammed targets," according to Klein's statement.

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
When it comes down to it, really, if you want information, NEED it to do what I pay you to do, one can damned well ASK me for it - the auto mechanic would like to know what kind of car, make and model, and what I might feel is wrong with it, that information is needful to him to make an appropriate diagnoses and estimate... and if he wishes to call me with his assessment then if we both agree (which we do not), my phone number.

He doesn't need to know my name.
He doesn't need to know where I live.
He doesn't need to know anything beyond that required to properly do the work.

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Originally posted by rue:
I think that one should be asked if you want your info in a database or not - and your wishes should be adhered to.

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Frem
Case in point, K-Mart...
"Can I have your zipcode please ?"
"No."
"I cannot ring you up without a zipcode."

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Frem...
Amendments I, IV, IX and X, backed up by the tattered and much ignored shield of the Privacy Act of 1974 - which has been at this time utterly ignored if not superceded by unconstitutional acts in the other direction.

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