Slip of the Tongue or Truth Revealed: You Have Zero Privacy Anyway – Get Over It

There was a furor when Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy told reporters “privacy issues are a red herring; you have zero privacy anyway…get over it!” Many could not believe he would say that; however, he was simply stating the truth – an obvious truth to those with access to the many databases that contain your life – and more problematic – things that did not actually happen but got recorded as though they did.

Still believe we have privacy? Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said “The privacy you’re concerned about is largely an illusion. All you have to give up is your illusions, not any of your privacy.” They have both known about the erosion of our privacy for so long they apparently didn’t even realize their comments would be a surprise.

Why do they say we have no privacy? Do you know what information you think is private can be easily accessed? The one that surprised me the most is who has access to your medical records. If anything should be private you would think your health would be.

Even that is not what is really threatening to our lives. Linking more and more databases together and using data mining programs to extract personal information makes it available to far too many untrustworthy individuals, companies, and government agencies.

Once you understand how data mining works you will never take privacy for granted again and more importantly, you will have a better idea what you can do to protect yourself.

LEARN TO PROTECT (as much as possible) YOUR PERSONAL PRIVACY AND FUTURE:

• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) – Our first line of defense
• Mike Valentine – Protect Personal and Financial Privacy – how online sites extract private information
• Web Anonymity; Improve Your Online Privacy – Tips to increase your privacy online
• Privacy Lives – You will be amazed at all the ways our privacy is being eroded. This site helps you keep up to date.

[WARNING: One of the easiest ways to track someone is to offer them a way to opt out of tracking. Many groups that claim or appear to protect us actually hurt us. Telling the difference is extremely difficult; however, checking to see who the members are often reveals their true purpose. Don't be in any hurry to use these types of sites.]

ADDITIONAL 2008 RESOURCES on PRIVACY CONCERNS:

• Choose One: Privacy or the Internet (Aug 27, 2008)
• Privacy? We Got Over It – Comments on how much we’ve already given up (Aug 25, 2008)
• Fallacies About Privacy – Concurs that consumers are not aware of the dangers (Aug 25, 2008)
• New Guidelines Would Give FBI Broader Powers – Government Uses of Data Mining (Aug 22, 2008)
• Internet Providers Admit to Monitoring Customers’ Web Surfing (Aug 18, 2008)
• Do You Trust Google to Resist Data Mining Across Services (Jun 10, 2008)

ADVANCED READING ON PRIVACY ISSUES:

• Would YOU Trust Private Information to Google Docs? (Aug 14, 2008)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (2007 and earlier):

• Podcast: Jeffrey Rosen Is Privacy Dead (Nov 14, 2007)
• National ID Cards are a Moot Point, Folks (Feb 04, 2007)
• Taking Spying to a Higher Level; Government Agencies Look For More Ways to Mine Data (Feb 25, 2006)
• What Price Freedom? How Data Mining Affects Our Privacy and Potentially Our Freedom
• Uproar Over U.S. Phone Call Database – Tracking the Individual User (May 12, 2006)
• Total Information Awareness for Whom? TIA and FIA Requests (May 23, 2006)
• Total Information Awareness Lives On – What TIA is and how it survived (Feb 25, 2006)
• U.S. Plans Massive Data Sweep – Government Data Mining System Implemented (Feb 09, 2006)
• Total Information Awareness Disguised and Alive (Feb 22, 2004)
• Don’t Make Privacy the Next Victim of Terror (Oct 4, 2001)

What if profit is the real red herring? Maybe it isn’t all about money. Maybe it is all about control.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES on DATA MINING:

• What is Datamining – explains how Data Mining works and some of the many uses for it
• An Introduction to Data Mining – how businesses use it to predict sales trends
• Data Mining Techniques – how datamining systems are designed
• Data Mining, an Introduction – comprehensive information to better understand Data Mining
• Do You Trust Google to Resist Data Mining Across Services (Jun 10, 2008)

Tagged as: privacy