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Words are powerful - Thoughts shape
- Ideas have
consequences
Sharon Hughes
The Center for Changing
Worldviews
Posted January 19, 2004
Information Warfare!
An Invasion of Privacy
Invasion of privacy is a subject that, well, makes me upset. How about you?
There are certain inalienable rights that are clearly self-evident, and one
of those is the right to privacy. Another one is the right of personal property,
of which your finances, computer, and mail, including emails, are a part. When
manufacturers build something into a product that violates our privacy without
telling us, or internet hackers and pirates invade our computer to read our
emails or steal our credit card information...it makes me mad! This is a major
violation of privacy as all thievery is. If banks want to put all our personal
information on a Smart Card they should communicate this clearly and get our
permission before they do it. That's what integrity and valuing a person's
privacy would do. GM should tell potential buyers everything about the OnStar
system, including that it has a passive listening device which can allow their
conversations to be heard...but then, how many cars with OnStar would sell
if customers understood someone would or could be listening?
I hope everyone made that important call a few months ago to remove your name
from telemarketers' lists. The constant phone calls at dinner time and throughout
the day are the least of concern. Did you know that after a telemarketer wears
you down enough to buy what he is selling, he can directly charge your account
without having to get your signature or credit card number. How? Before he
called you he conveniently "preacquired" your account number from
your bank which, of course, gets some of the profit, to "make it simple" for
you. Can this be a problem? Well, let me give you just one example...
In 1999 the Attorney General of Minnesota discovered that in one year's time
a certain bank had to cancel 173,543 membership plans, policies, and other
purchases which were charged to the accounts of their customers who did not
authorize them...such as an 80 year old retired janitor who was charged for
a home insurance plan, although he lived in a nursing home; an auto club membership,
although he had no car; and a dental plan, even though he had...no teeth! I
am not anti-technology! To the contrary. However, when our privacy is violated
it is not only a form of invasion, but control. That is not only outrageous!
It's absolutely criminal.
Sharon is the President of The Center for Changing Worldviews, and hosts Changing
Worldviews TALK Radio which is heard on KDIA AM1640 San Francisco/Vallejo;
KGDP AM660 Santa Maria, CA and WITA AM1490 Knoxville, TN, as well as online
daily at Oneplace.com. Her column appears on several online news sites including CaliforniaRepublic.org, ChronWatch.com, MichNews.com, NewsBull, NewsWithViews.com, RenewAmerica.us and
others. For further information go to www.changingworldviews.com or
comment at http://changingworldviews.blogspot.com
Contact sharon@changingworldviews.com