Business Buzz
Is privacy a thing of the past?
By Carole Worley and John P. Gardner, Jr.
On Sept. 15, 2004, Investors Business Daily reported a help desk worker at a company that provides credit reports pled guilty to stealing information from over 30,000 people, netting thieves up to 100 million dollars. The next day, the Wall Street Journal said that if you use a computer to access the Internet, “your privacy and your security are all in jeopardy. An international criminal class of virus writers, hackers, digital vandals and sleazy business people wakes up every day planning to attack your computer.”
Records at your local courthouse are public unless sealed by court order. These include what you own, what you owe, your Social Security number, your birth date, your driver’s license number and sometimes very private divorce files. Some of this information is included on UCC forms filed when you borrow money on a car, in deeds and mortgages on some leases that are filed. Almost all public records are being computerized and are available online to anyone.
Any school where you have ever applied has your Social Security number and birth date, as does any company where you have ever applied for work. Every insurance agent and company to which you have ever applied has this information, as do the agents and companies of any company for which you have ever worked. Any company you have ever borrowed money from and your banking institutions all have this information, not to mention utilites. There are companies that aggregate information from all these sources and many more, and the information is for sale.
The question is, how can all your most private information be for sale? The reason is, you have given each company, institution and office permission to sell everything about you. Each of us receives “Privacy Notices” that tell us they are going to sell and share everything about us to or with whomever they want, whenever they want. To opt out, you must call or write and request your info not be sold. The vast majority of us simply file them, thinking our privacy has been protected. The notices sometimes say they will not sell “except as provided by law” or except to their “subsidiaries”. My advice is -- read the notices from now on. There is an “opt out” procedure for a reason.
What kind of information is sold other than that already mentioned? Virtually everything about you; what you watched on TV last night, every page of every Web site you visit each night, the drugs you take, what and when and where you buy your clothes, your food, your preferences, your habits are all collected and sold with your permission because you have not responded to privacy notices for years.
The average American is in 50 separate databases, profiled down to their habits. The beginning of the solution is in recognizing the problem.
For more information, call Carole Worley (850)638-4369. Worley is an independent associate with Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc., a 32 year old company publicly traded on the NYSE specializing identity theft and legal services nationwide.
Page created and maintained by West Florida Electric Cooperative, Inc. © 2001.
designed by embryo design