The US is far behind Europe in enforcing privacy rights for people. I suppose that's not surprising, as European people have borne much suffering from totalitarian regimes like Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy. They (or at least their parents) know that totalitarianism needs to know who is thinking and doing what. Thus in Europe a company like Google faces strong, enforced prohibitions on gathering data about you.
Here is the US, we have almost no protection. Congress is in the pockets of the banks and marketing companies and simply requires them to notify us with long, wordy inserts to things like our credit card bill to "opt out". Of course we all get many, many of those and they are always changing, making us "opt out" over & over again.
Why is the rule not, "opt in"? After all, that's how Nielson gets it ratings. They arrange for a certain number of homes to "opt in" and let Nielson monitor their viewing habits. And when those people want out, they simply quit the programs.
I don't want to be in ANY company's database, but get forced in by wanting to use simple services like credit cards, banks, and store cards to get discounts (that used to exist a sales in newspaper inserts). Sooo I pay cash and don't use my store card anymore. That works. When a company wants to give me a "rewards" card, I decline. I concentrate most credit card spending on one card and then keep track of its privacy policy, making sure I'm on the "opt out" list.
But why do I have to do all this to keep my privacy?
Because the US Congress is in the pocket of the Ruling Class: some of the big corporations and their wealthy lobbyists make money off collecting data about us. And the US government wants to have files on all of us, too.
We need real privacy. No data files at all on us ... anywhere. I want the privacy of a common man who was a pioneer in America. Just pure privacy. I don't want to be a number in a corporate database. Leave me alone!!!
The people need to demand privacy laws - strong ones. Laws the prohibit any company or person or government from maintaining data about you for any reason. If a data file about you needs kept - such as medical records - it should be YOUR property. Period. They have to ask YOU for permission to access it, everytime. You can then give it to your doctor, but NOT to some drug marketing company.
Privacy is essential to a free people. Without privacy, innumerable ways exist to extort or tempt you. We should all demand strong privacy laws from Congress. Our lives are OURS. We are free people! Get out of our lives and homes and stop spying on us. Just leave us alone!
Word of the Day
"Verily" - adverb [$10]
Verily means really, truely
Sentence: The Ruling Class verily sees each of us as a serf whom they want to tattoo with an identifying number and watch ... everything about us: what we eat, buy, use, do, say and think. Demand and value your privacy and everyone's privacy; it's a barrier against totaliarianism and a bulwark of freedom.
Showing posts with label privacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label privacy. Show all posts
Friday, January 7, 2011
Monday, January 25, 2010
Call Me Curmudgeon*
*Word of the Day
Why does every store want to spy on me ? All I want to do is to buy the product, perhaps even with that "old-fashioned" money, viz. cash. They want me to join their "rewards" clubs or get my phone number or even my name & address, too. This applies to nearly every large store that I've entered for at last a year, including Best Buy, Dick's, and the local supermarket.
Heck, Best Buy would not even let me spend $500 on Friday unless I gave them my phone number, name & address. Maybe they wanted more, but I told them what to do with their product and walked out.
These companies want the information to sell it to marketing companies who want to keep track of my purchases. Without knowing who I am, that information is less valuable. It's all about money.
Hello ... I don't want to be in your database. I don't want to get phone calls asking for surveys, or offering special products. I don't want your bleeping rewards !!! All I want is to spend some money and buy some goods you are offering for sale. If that so novel ?
This has been a public issue for a few years, but as usual, Congress is in the pockets of the ruling classes and does nothing to help protect our privacy. Europe is way ahead of the US on this issue.
Companies want the last four digits of my Social security number (e. g. the cable company). They say it doesn't violate my privacy since it's not the entire number. Uh ... BUT if many companies do that, one could hack into them, get it and them manipulate or steal my accounts using that same "security" code. How stupid is that "security" system !
To me, companies simply don't care about customers any more. Customers are cows to be milked. Or is that milched ? They want to put their leeches onto us and bleed us awhile until we drop to one knee, then scrape a few off so we can stand again.
Not me. I made my electronics purchase online from Amazon and saved $80. Sure, Amazon knows who I am as they will deliver the product to my home. But I already have a account there and it's that just ONE firm. Not a dozen or more.
Book of the Week
My Life as a Rebel, by Angelica Balabanoff (written in 1938). I just finished this book. It's an extraordinary first hand account of the earliest days of the socialist movement, the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, how it evolved into a criminal tyranny, and personal insight into Mussolini, his Fascism and how he seized power. Yes, these are all connected. Balabanoff was on that so-called sealed train taking Lenin to Russia thru Germany in 1917 and knew Mussolini before he was anybody.
Balabanoff was truly concerned about better conditions and life for workers and cared nothing for power (she almost starved as she refused special food allowances). That distinguishes her from most of the other famous revolutionaries (at least the ones who seized power). She left Russia in 1922 as Lenin, Zionviev and others had been stifling her for nearly the entire four years she spent aiding the Bolshevik revolution. She saw how it became distorted with terror, bureaucracy and corruption. She had deep, personal insights into all the leaders (Lenin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, Mussolini, etc.) and other famous figures like the American, John Reed (who died disheartened by events in Russia.)
She also saw how the Comintern became a mouthpiece of the Bolsheviks and cared nothing for other labor movements in the world. How ? She was its first Secretary ! Balabanoff knew many languages [Russian, French, Italian , English and German at least] and often acted as a translator at top level meetings.
You cannot understand the revolutionary era of the 20th century without reading this book. Dry histories simply will not convey what this first hand account does. Try to buy a copy on used book websites.
Markets
If the markets firm today, I might speculate on the long side after the first hour.
Word of the Day
"Curmudgeon" - noun [$10]
Curmudgeon means 1. a cantankerous** person; 2. a bad-tempered or miserly person.
Sentence: Is Bunkerman a curmudgeon for not wanting to strip himself of privacy when buying something, or perhaps just serious about protecting his personal information and habits ?
**cantankerous means bad tempered, quarrelsome.
Why does every store want to spy on me ? All I want to do is to buy the product, perhaps even with that "old-fashioned" money, viz. cash. They want me to join their "rewards" clubs or get my phone number or even my name & address, too. This applies to nearly every large store that I've entered for at last a year, including Best Buy, Dick's, and the local supermarket.
Heck, Best Buy would not even let me spend $500 on Friday unless I gave them my phone number, name & address. Maybe they wanted more, but I told them what to do with their product and walked out.
These companies want the information to sell it to marketing companies who want to keep track of my purchases. Without knowing who I am, that information is less valuable. It's all about money.
Hello ... I don't want to be in your database. I don't want to get phone calls asking for surveys, or offering special products. I don't want your bleeping rewards !!! All I want is to spend some money and buy some goods you are offering for sale. If that so novel ?
This has been a public issue for a few years, but as usual, Congress is in the pockets of the ruling classes and does nothing to help protect our privacy. Europe is way ahead of the US on this issue.
Companies want the last four digits of my Social security number (e. g. the cable company). They say it doesn't violate my privacy since it's not the entire number. Uh ... BUT if many companies do that, one could hack into them, get it and them manipulate or steal my accounts using that same "security" code. How stupid is that "security" system !
To me, companies simply don't care about customers any more. Customers are cows to be milked. Or is that milched ? They want to put their leeches onto us and bleed us awhile until we drop to one knee, then scrape a few off so we can stand again.
Not me. I made my electronics purchase online from Amazon and saved $80. Sure, Amazon knows who I am as they will deliver the product to my home. But I already have a account there and it's that just ONE firm. Not a dozen or more.
Book of the Week
My Life as a Rebel, by Angelica Balabanoff (written in 1938). I just finished this book. It's an extraordinary first hand account of the earliest days of the socialist movement, the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, how it evolved into a criminal tyranny, and personal insight into Mussolini, his Fascism and how he seized power. Yes, these are all connected. Balabanoff was on that so-called sealed train taking Lenin to Russia thru Germany in 1917 and knew Mussolini before he was anybody.
Balabanoff was truly concerned about better conditions and life for workers and cared nothing for power (she almost starved as she refused special food allowances). That distinguishes her from most of the other famous revolutionaries (at least the ones who seized power). She left Russia in 1922 as Lenin, Zionviev and others had been stifling her for nearly the entire four years she spent aiding the Bolshevik revolution. She saw how it became distorted with terror, bureaucracy and corruption. She had deep, personal insights into all the leaders (Lenin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, Mussolini, etc.) and other famous figures like the American, John Reed (who died disheartened by events in Russia.)
She also saw how the Comintern became a mouthpiece of the Bolsheviks and cared nothing for other labor movements in the world. How ? She was its first Secretary ! Balabanoff knew many languages [Russian, French, Italian , English and German at least] and often acted as a translator at top level meetings.
You cannot understand the revolutionary era of the 20th century without reading this book. Dry histories simply will not convey what this first hand account does. Try to buy a copy on used book websites.
Markets
If the markets firm today, I might speculate on the long side after the first hour.
Word of the Day
"Curmudgeon" - noun [$10]
Curmudgeon means 1. a cantankerous** person; 2. a bad-tempered or miserly person.
Sentence: Is Bunkerman a curmudgeon for not wanting to strip himself of privacy when buying something, or perhaps just serious about protecting his personal information and habits ?
**cantankerous means bad tempered, quarrelsome.
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