Adam Kenner's Privacy Page


Introduction
At an ever increasing pace, the technological conveniences of modern society (and the businesses that create and manage them) are robbing us of our right to privacy. Information about US citizens is now a marketable commodity. It is easier for a corporation, marketing firm or law enforcement agency to obtain tremendous amounts of personal information about an individual than it is for the individual to access that same information about him or herself. Federal and local agencies want access to your private electronic communications.
The trouble here is that we are giving our unwitting approval to this process each and every day by the decisions we make. The products and services we choose to buy and use repeatedly send the message that we value convenience over privacy, and that we will happily surrender information about ourselves in exchange for increased leisure time or the newest gadgetry.

Examples
My views on the topics discussed on this site are now available to the (wired) public.

According to a 1993 Washington Post Article, 30 percent of top managers in large companies admitted they had searched employee computer files, voice mail or other networking communications.Source: CIO Magazine, 12/1/96, p.20

Every time you use a credit card, you add to a database of information about your buying habits, personal preferences, and possible level of debt. You also identify your location at a specific date and time.

If you use the EZPass automated tollgate system, your travels are logged in a central database.

Direct Broadcast Satellite television systems give you access to hundreds of channels of programming. They require a telephone link to activate pay-per-view events. Through this link, they are able to track the programs you watch. Your choice of programs and daily viewing habits may be made available for sale to marketers, advertisers, cable and broadcast networks, government agencies, politicians (including your political opponents, if you happen to run for office), and maybe even anyone with a credit card and the desire to know what you are watching.

As you browse the Web, your connections may be logged and stored, and may be made available to others without your knowledge and consent.

Are there more examples? Of course. There are hundreds. Look around and think about the capture, storage and flow of information about you and your life, and you will see that your life is far more public than you may have thought.

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Adam Kenner / 5 November 1996
kenner@cloud9.net