| Privacy
Posted: 11/6/2008 7:49:03 PM | How important is your privacy to you?
About a year and a half ago, I was at a conference here in Toronto and one of the topics of discussion that came up was Canada and Ontario's privacy regulations. The conference was attended by people from Canada and throughout the U.S.
At the table I sat, one of the participants piped up "So why do you need privacy for? If the government wants to put a chip in my head, that's fine by me if it helps them find me locked in the trunk of a car."
I was surprised, to say the least. First of all, I explained that what they were referring to was private information - you know, name, address, health information, credit card information, credit score, etc. I probably didn't want to know he felt he was likely to end up locked in the trunk of a car. And thirdly, has the perception of how things have gone got so bad that people are willing to give up that much of their personal freedom?
Thoughts? | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/7/2008 5:45:16 AM | | My first thought was if that chip in his head is ignored as much as car alarms are around here he won't get out of that trunk until he starts stinking. My privacy is very important to me. Chips in my head,no thanks. | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/7/2008 5:51:59 AM | I think its a debate that came to late. the president of sun microsystems (who's name escapes me here) testified before congress on the privacy of personal information.
his take - "you have zero privacy. get over it."
I think he's right. | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/7/2008 5:58:21 AM | ^^^^^^^^^^I think that is true but for very different reasons, when I use my credit card, I offer up information, when I log into a website, I offer up information. When I take out a mortgage, I offer up information, and that is generally understood. But, that is my choice to make, what many goverments are talking about is NOT voluntary.
Unfortunately your privacy has now become a casualty of the fear mongering that has been going on since 911. I would like to know what nationality this person was. Canadian or American?
<div class="quote">I probably didn't want to know he felt he was likely to end up locked in the trunk of a car. And thirdly, has the perception of how things have gone got so bad that people are willing to give up that much of their personal freedom?
And this is the end product of that fear mongering.........I believe I have a greater chance of being struck by lightening than I do of dying in a terrorist attack. | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/7/2008 6:27:40 AM | Strictly speaking, the US constitution has no express right to privacy. Courts have implied that right from others within it.
That said, I like my privacy, and do what I can to maintain it. I am anonymous here, my email doesn't list my full name, when I get privacy practices from my mortgage and credit cards and so on, I always read it and opt out of everything, I'm on the do not call list, I've registered with the Direct Marketers to stop receiving junk mail. I use cash over credit cards, retailers can mine a lot of data from credit transactions. I don't blog or post pictures of my family. I don't sign up to win free gas, or trips, etc. In short, I don't give away my information.
Would I want a chip in my person, no. Ever see Logan's Run? | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/7/2008 11:04:19 AM | It's true in this day and age with the technology we have privacy is becoming a rare commodity. But doesn't mean we should give up and let big brother do what they want, spreading fear in the name of terror/safty/ or whatever.
So why do you need privacy for? If the government wants to put a chip in my head, that's fine by me if it helps them find me locked in the trunk of a car.  no comment | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/7/2008 11:22:14 AM | Here in the UK the Labour government want every single citizen to pay £300 for the privilege of owning a biometric ID card. This will aid in the war on terror .  The first scary thing about it is the amount of information that they want to hold on us. The second scary thing is the number of incidents of data loss that the civil service and other government bodies are owning up to. 2 discs containing the bank details and adresses of 20million plus families were lost when they were sent, unencrypted, through a regular courier, with no special arrangements made for their security. Lap tops being stolen from cars, TOP SECRET documents being left on trains etc The list is endless. If the government can't be trusted with YOUR personal data, should they be allowed to hold it? | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/7/2008 1:28:41 PM | Privacy is now an impossible concept to fully ensure... we live in the information age where there are records kept about us from the time of birth until the time of death. Regardless of what the information is, someone, somewhere has it on file about us and it's accessible by others.
Fortunately, we are able to control some aspects of our personal lives, but again, human beings are social creatures and many of us feel the need to share with others. Even if it's something so inconsequential as a silly happening in the privacy of our home... we tell someone about it...
Truly, we are living in the information age... it's a fact of life in today's society... | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/10/2008 5:51:15 AM | I think privacy is important, given that in our world, technology increasingly allows our movements and activities to be readily and quickly scrutinised. The advances in information technology and electronics for example, have allowed third parties to find ways to eavesdrop into private lives using means that were once inconceivable, from electronic 'bugs' and taps to internet hackers and criminals.
The law has developed some means to protect privacy, including in legislation and also in established case law. I think governments should act and legislate measures to protect the freedom of private people from interference, and perhaps also a tort of 'privacy' (a right to personal privacy, as with the protection of private personal integrity and financial interests) should be recognised. This has to be balanced against cases where finding things out about people may be in the public interest (such as monitoring criminal activity or exposing corrupt politicians and officials). | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/10/2008 12:29:47 PM |
That said, I like my privacy, and do what I can to maintain it. I am anonymous here, my email doesn't list my full name, when I get privacy practices from my mortgage and credit cards and so on, I always read it and opt out of everything, I'm on the do not call list, I've registered with the Direct Marketers to stop receiving junk mail. I use cash over credit cards, retailers can mine a lot of data from credit transactions. I don't blog or post pictures of my family. I don't sign up to win free gas, or trips, etc. In short, I don't give away my information.
It should be made clear, that admin on any web site has access to not only your information that you gave up when logging in, but also has access to the ISP of any computer you use to access that site. Through the ISP, they can determine who you are, unless you are using a public terminal for each and every post. That information can be revealed to any agency that can validly produce a warrant for it. | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/10/2008 12:36:32 PM | | No matter how well you believe you've protected yourself, if you live in a civilized society that requires a driver's license, passport, some form of identification, background checks for jobs, a birth certificate, a death certificate, or any of the myriad pieces of documentation that happen in our lives, you have no privacy. | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/10/2008 5:40:54 PM | I don't we truly have privacy. The bottom line is that anyone can get any information about you if they have just one thing to begin with. From there its easy. Have a name, you can get an address or phone number, perhaps from there you find more on said person on the net, like on a facebook or something. It only snowballs from there.
To have complete privacy in everyway is to shut yourself off from the world so as to not leave a paper or cyber trail. | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/7/2009 3:00:14 PM | | I was thinking the other day about people who like to live out in the middle of nowhere. It must feel sometimes like you are the only person on earth. Feel like complete independence and freedom. Then I looked at how I live, most of the time surrounded by hundreds, thousands of people; you know you are just one of millions. I realize that nowadays, because of computers, id numbers, etc., that the idea of complete privacy is impossible, no matter where or how you life. There is truly as much privacy in urban areas as in rural areas; in fact, in my experience, there is more privacy in urban environments because people are more likely to mind their own business and not worry about what others are doing. I don't care if a bank or government or any one else knows my purchasing or travel habits, my spending and saving habits. I doubt, however, that anyone cares about those things on any personal level. I do care very much about my privacy in my personal life, and I get that because I stay away from unwelcome people who try to invade it. | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/7/2009 3:29:49 PM |
his take - "you have zero privacy. get over it."
I think he's right.
I accept we give over certain information in our lives, but we have the right to expect that personal information not to be divulged to a third-party without our knowledge or permission. At least in this country.
At the moment there is a scam being perpetrated by some private car park operators over here whereby they issue 'fines' to cars that overstay, even by minutes. The cost of an hour's parking is $2.00, but the 'fines' are $88.00. What people don't realise is that private companies in Australia do not have the power to issue fines. The companies in question get around this by saying the charges are not fines but 'liquidated damages' and the driver has entered into a contarct by parking in the space.
And what is it they claim 'liquidated damages' for? The fact that nobody else could park in that spot, therefore denying them the ability to charge someone else $2.00 for the next hour, that's what. On a pro-rata basis the real damage they would suffer is 17 cents. These pr*cks make their money from people thinking they are being 'fined' and paying up.
If you ignore the ticket the company then invades your privacy by suing the RTA for your name and address on the grounds of legal discovery and thus circumvents the NSW Privacy Act 1998.
Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 No 133
Current version for 17 July 2009 to date (accessed 8 November 2009 at 10:20)
Part 2Division 1Section 18
18 Limits on disclosure of personal information
(1) A public sector agency that holds personal information must not disclose the information to a person (other than the individual to whom the information relates) or other body, whether or not such other person or body is a public sector agency, unless:
(a) the disclosure is directly related to the purpose for which the information was collected, and the agency disclosing the information has no reason to believe that the individual concerned would object to the disclosure, or
(b) the individual concerned is reasonably likely to have been aware, or has been made aware in accordance with section 10, that information of that kind is usually disclosed to that other person or body, or
(c) the agency believes on reasonable grounds that the disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of the individual concerned or another person.
Chasing somebody down over 17 cents hardly qualifies as reasonable grounds to invade their privacy.
They then proceed to harrass and threaten the drivers who haven't paid, threatening to take them to court unless they do. Most people give up just to get them off their backs. The few who have called their bluff and defended themselves in court have won, because the burden of proof is on the car park operators to actually justify the damage on a $2.00 parking spot amounted to the grossly-inflated figure of $88.00. The magistrate just throws it out.
They are, of course, perpetrating a scam, they would go broke if everybody parked and left within the hour, their business model totally relies upon people paying the 'fines'. | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/7/2009 3:36:41 PM | | Why don't people boycott these parking lots? ^^^ | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/7/2009 3:42:58 PM | I wonder how much more overcrowded our jails would become if Big Brother knew where u were every second of every day..the people who do illegal things (stealing, etc) would be more likely to get caught, and thrown in jail. Jails are already overcrowded enough without the people in there who have never got caught for their crimes.
It's supposed to be a sign of the anti-christ coming, when the government mandates everyone have a chip in them. Personally, it just seems creepy to me that someone knows where I am at every second of the day..no one is coming near me or my son come hell or high water to put a chip in us. | |
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| Privacy
Posted: 11/7/2009 3:43:20 PM |
Why don't people boycott these parking lots? ^^^
Because often they can't tell the difference between Council ones and private ones, and often the private ones are deliberately designed to look like Council ones. It's a scam to fool the unwary into thinking the private operators are a government body, which is why most people think they are paying 'fines'.
I teach my sons to question everything, don't take stuff on face value, if it looks too good to be true, it is, if it looks like a scam, it is.
Living in Britain Ismene2, you would be quite familiar with the illegal clamping scams? | |
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