WOW! Privacy seems to be a very hot topic with TNPC readers. I received far more email on this topic than I could ever hope to answer individually so I'll thank all of you for writing, right here and now.
The trade-off between personal privacy and convenience was the central issue for many of our readers. Some of you (like TNPCer Dick K.) have given up the convenience of plastic and eschew using credit cards just to keep your purchasing habits private. Interestingly enough, Dick sent me his comments using an email account with a different name on it. Obviously, he takes his privacy pretty seriously!
Gary G. says privacy is overrated. "Wouldn't it be great if, when I walked into a store to buy some clothes, all the styles I like and in my sizes were automatically moved to the front of the rack where I could see them more easily? And I'd like my morning paper to omit everything that I have absolutely no interest in right down to the coupons and flyers they stuff it with." Or as Glen M. points out, "Bottom line, if someone is going to spam me, at least let them send me spam I might be interested in."
What's wrong with a company knowing what you buy? Especially if it makes future buying easier? When it comes to companies using this information to target ads and coupons to you based on your purchases, there's not much of an overall downside. But it's who else might be using this information, and how they use it, that causes the most concern.
Consider how information about your personal self can be extrapolated from your buying habits. This is where someone (a faceless drone in Human Resources or with your medical insurance carrier) decides that based on your personal buying habits you're a risk for substance abuse because you bought one too many six- packs, or that you're a poor insurance risk because you purchase mountain climbing equipment or seem to be overly fond of Chunky Monkey ice cream. Pretty scary stuff and a number of you made this connection and voiced your concerns. Computers make all this data mining and extrapolation possible.
In Denver, after a local television station ran a report showing city workers playing cards and sleeping on the job, the city fathers came up with the idea to track where every city truck was using the Global Positioning System satellites maintained by the military. Denver would spend $1.5 million to put ground receivers on every city truck so its position could be calculated continuously. Is this protecting taxpayer dollars from undue waste or the start of a Big Brother scenario?
Is anyone trying to keep your personal information, well, personal? The Federal Trade Commission has issued privacy regulations that could sharply curb the business of selling what's called "credit header" information from credit reports. This information includes names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and other personal details. Credit bureaus routinely sell this information on about 200 million Americans.
The FTC declared that any personal information gathered by a financial institution, including names and Social Security numbers, is "financial data" subject to protections under the new law that takes effect July 1, 2001.
Social security numbers are a very hot commodity. With your social security number your identity can be usurped by nefarious individuals. Valid numbers are also used by people working in the United States illegally.
But a number of legitimate companies say they desperately need "credit header" information to update databases for marketing, fraud prevention, and programs that help private investigators, debt collectors, and others locate people. This type of ruling does nothing in so far as your shopping habits or surfing information is concerned. Still, there are nearly 300 privacy bills pending in the U.S. House and Senate so this opera is far from over.
I don't think there are any pat answers as to what can or should be done to protect our privacy. But I know that everyone should be aware what personal information is available, and what other people are doing with that information. We'll be revisiting this subject again in future issues of TNPC.
