One of the big pushes over the last twenty years in Washington has been to guarantee the privacy of individual Americans. Various states have also enacted laws and regulations that are supposed to protect the privacy of individuals, especially "victims" of all sorts. So here's the question: as you go through your day, do you feel like your privacy has been safeguarded by the government?
1) At least once a week it seems that I get a letter or email from some company or another telling me in detail what they do with my private information. Credit card companies enclose these privacy reports with their bills. At doctors' offices, it is impossible to get in to see the doctor without first signing an acknowledgement that one has been given the privacy policy. My bank and mortgage company send these policies periodically. Indeed, it seems nearly impossible to get off the list of recipients. I still get privacy policy statements from the bank where my older daughter had a checking account years ago when she was in college. I also get them from utilities connected to apartments where the lease was up years ago. In many ways, it seems like an avalanche of these privacy policy statements. I would estimate that I probably get fifty of these things each year for myself or my family. If they only cost the companies one dollar each to prepare and send, that is $50 per year just for my house. When one adds in the rest of America, the price must be astronomical.
So do these reports which are required by law give our privacy more protection? I doubt it. I have never actually read one of them. Who has time to read five pages of tiny print that sounds like it was first written in some obscure language and then translated into English. Think about it. Have you ever read one of these privacy statements? Gee, at most of the doctors' offices, I never even get to see their privacy rules; I only have to sign a statement saying that I was shown them.
The truth is that the federal government designed this system which costs American business billions of dollars each year, but which does absolutely nothing to protect our privacy.
2) I am registered with the "Do Not Call" site. Supposedly, my privacy is thereby protected and I will not get any calls from telemarketers. This too is another creation of the government. The problem is that this too does not work. Every day, I get recorded messages from "cardholder services" telling me that I can reduce the interest rates on my credit cards. No matter what I try, I cannot get the calls to stop. I get recorded calls telling me that the FBI has reported a crime in my neighborhood and offering to sell me an alarm system. I get almost non-stop calls asking to speak to the person in my home in charge of paying the electric bill. The list goes on, but I am sure that you all know exactly what I am talking about. It has gotten so bad that often when I get these calls, I ask the caller to wait and tell them that I am putting them on hold for a moment. Of course, I never come back. I figure that if they interrupt my day, I can at least return the favor.
3) There is a national system for running background checks on potential gun buyers. It is supposed to let those who sell weapons know if a buyer is a convicted felon or someone who is mentally unstable. Privacy concerns, however, have destroyed that plan too. In many states, the names of those who are mentally ill and possibly violent are not put into the system in order to protect their privacy. It seems that in a choice between preventing potential mass murderers from getting guns or possibly invading the privacy of some folks who are mentally ill, the government has chosen to protection of privacy. It is another great moment in the struggle for privacy.
4) The TSA just changed the rules so that aircraft passengers can once again bring knives on board planes. After all, carrying concealed knives is a private matter, and we need to protect privacy. I cannot even bring myself to discuss this again.
Obviously, the government has failed miserably in its privacy quest.
1) At least once a week it seems that I get a letter or email from some company or another telling me in detail what they do with my private information. Credit card companies enclose these privacy reports with their bills. At doctors' offices, it is impossible to get in to see the doctor without first signing an acknowledgement that one has been given the privacy policy. My bank and mortgage company send these policies periodically. Indeed, it seems nearly impossible to get off the list of recipients. I still get privacy policy statements from the bank where my older daughter had a checking account years ago when she was in college. I also get them from utilities connected to apartments where the lease was up years ago. In many ways, it seems like an avalanche of these privacy policy statements. I would estimate that I probably get fifty of these things each year for myself or my family. If they only cost the companies one dollar each to prepare and send, that is $50 per year just for my house. When one adds in the rest of America, the price must be astronomical.
So do these reports which are required by law give our privacy more protection? I doubt it. I have never actually read one of them. Who has time to read five pages of tiny print that sounds like it was first written in some obscure language and then translated into English. Think about it. Have you ever read one of these privacy statements? Gee, at most of the doctors' offices, I never even get to see their privacy rules; I only have to sign a statement saying that I was shown them.
The truth is that the federal government designed this system which costs American business billions of dollars each year, but which does absolutely nothing to protect our privacy.
2) I am registered with the "Do Not Call" site. Supposedly, my privacy is thereby protected and I will not get any calls from telemarketers. This too is another creation of the government. The problem is that this too does not work. Every day, I get recorded messages from "cardholder services" telling me that I can reduce the interest rates on my credit cards. No matter what I try, I cannot get the calls to stop. I get recorded calls telling me that the FBI has reported a crime in my neighborhood and offering to sell me an alarm system. I get almost non-stop calls asking to speak to the person in my home in charge of paying the electric bill. The list goes on, but I am sure that you all know exactly what I am talking about. It has gotten so bad that often when I get these calls, I ask the caller to wait and tell them that I am putting them on hold for a moment. Of course, I never come back. I figure that if they interrupt my day, I can at least return the favor.
3) There is a national system for running background checks on potential gun buyers. It is supposed to let those who sell weapons know if a buyer is a convicted felon or someone who is mentally unstable. Privacy concerns, however, have destroyed that plan too. In many states, the names of those who are mentally ill and possibly violent are not put into the system in order to protect their privacy. It seems that in a choice between preventing potential mass murderers from getting guns or possibly invading the privacy of some folks who are mentally ill, the government has chosen to protection of privacy. It is another great moment in the struggle for privacy.
4) The TSA just changed the rules so that aircraft passengers can once again bring knives on board planes. After all, carrying concealed knives is a private matter, and we need to protect privacy. I cannot even bring myself to discuss this again.
Obviously, the government has failed miserably in its privacy quest.
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