Showing posts with label Privacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Privacy. Show all posts

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Not one iota of your life is private anymore


For years I labored as a privacy blogger to convince the public they should be concerned over the loss of their privacy. Protect your data, I would tell them, even going to the extent of suggesting individuals should own their personal information, companies having to get your permission to use it, paying you for the privilege. No one was interested and out of all this I coined the term, 'apathetics,' for the individuals who stood by indifferently, watching their private data collected in databases around the world.

I finally threw up my hands and said, 'If you don't give a shit, why should I,' and turned my interest to political blogging. I can assure you the time to protect your personal information is long past; given time, almost anyone can go to the Internet underground and buy your Social Security number for five bucks. I still refuse to give mine out just because of the principal of it. Now Google is talking about selling the future, "powered by your personal data." Facebook, because of the use of its users' private information is in trouble with the feds. I hate to say it, but I told you so.


Wednesday, June 18, 2014

YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS EVERYWHERE...IN THE WORLD

In the July 2014 Consumer Reports there is an article, "Your secrets aren't safe." As a former privacy
NOT
advocate and junk mail data broker I can confirm that ten-fold. The speed at which your personal data moves around the world is faster than space travel. You wonder why it is all over the world? Foreign countries, particularly Europe, need it to sell their goods to Americans. And the biggest reason, U.S. junk mailers store your private information in countries like Costa Rica and India with those facilities all manned by people from that location. Scott McNealy, former founder and CEO of Sun Microsystems, a Silicon Valley darling of technology companies, said in 1999, "You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it." I thought he was crazy then, as did many other privacy advocates, but it turns out that even 15 years ago he was dead right. Can you imagine how bad the situation must be by now?

Friday, October 19, 2012

Is protecting your personal data a lost cause?

Scott McNealy, former CEO of Sun Microsystems, said in 1999, "You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it."  Privacy advocates around the U.S. fought off the notion as an off-the-wall statement that couldn’t be backed up.  Well, I am here to tell you that McNealy was right and the situation has gotten only worse over the years.  I was a junk mail data broker that sold your name and personal information to companies who used it to target you in their mailings.

Not that I agreed that McNealy’s premise should be accepted, although he was right at the time, rather that the heisting of this private data was wrong and should be regulated in an out-of-control industry.  I got religion.  Sellers of lists have basically no concern over how much of your personal information they sell.  Why should they?  It is a $4 billion+ business that repeats itself every year adding any new secrets about you that you make freely available to them.

If you are wondering now if there is any way you can protect your privacy, the answer is yes, but it isn’t without some effort.  I’ll tell you all about this later.

What brought this all up was a recent report that citizens data is still being improperly collected about innocent Americans and shared throughout government agencies, a multi-billion dollar information sharing program that started after 9/11 to help fight terrorism.  The Associated Press report is more concerned with misspent dollars on the terror watch program than the public’s privacy, quoting as follows:

The Dept. of Homeland Security “set up so-called fusion centers in every state. Government estimates range from less than $300 million to $1.4 billion in federal money, plus much more invested by state and local governments.”  The authors say that much of this money was spent for “local crimefighting.”

Aside from the fact that taxpayer dollars are being wasted, it just means that tons more of your private data is being disbursed around the country, most likely around the world, that could easily fall in the wrong hands.  “A Senate Homeland Security subcommittee reviewed 600 unclassified reports over a one-year period and concluded that most had nothing to do with terrorism.”  No terrorist threats were uncovered by these local fusion centers.  Imagine that.

Well, you do have an option.  You can subscribe to Grant Hall’s privacy method that will make you literally invisible when it comes to your personal data.  I know Grant, and never have I seen a more sincere person in what he believes and writes about.  Right now, today, this man is John Doe, Citizen A, protected by layers of privacy that guarantee that his complete confidentiality is secure.  Whether or not you complete the course, his two books are fascinating reading.

Here’s a quote from one of Grant’s recent promotions:

“Advantages of anonymous living include freedom from unexpected visits and calls from aggressive salespeople, troublesome private investigators, dangerous stalkers, and others who may want to case your home, rob you of property, or make life miserable for you and your family. Keeping the debt on your home a secret is impossible when a traditional home mortgage is used as all who pay a nominal fee may be able to tap into your credit report, discover your home address and easily make their way to your door. “

His latest book is Privacy Crisis Banking and his flagship book is Privacy Crisis, each of which addresses different approaches to fully protecting your privacy using methods proven by the author himself.  By the way, I consider myself a friend of Grant Hall and I have no idea where he lives nor do I have a telephone number.  When we talk, he either emails or calls me and that’s fine with me.

In closing, Stephen Manes in his Full Disclosure column commented on Scott McNealy’s statement, “He's right on the facts, wrong on the attitude. ... Instead of 'getting over it', citizens need to demand clear rules on privacy, security, and confidentiality."  I agree and I am sure Grant Hall would also agree.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Facebook, Google help potential suicides…will they sell your data?

It is commendable that Facebook and Google have set up procedures to identify people who are contemplating suicide, passing them along to help lines that are geared up to help these folks.  Facebook has designed a system that promotes the flagging of “suicidal or otherwise violent messages.”  If there is a post about someone doing harm to themselves, friends can click on a “report suicidal content link.”

Google added something to its U.S. search engine in 2010 showing a red telephone plus the telephone number for a suicide help line to call.  They have a similar program for poison-control providing a hotline.  The latter was prompted by an actual incident of a mother unable to find the right number after her child had consumed something poisonous. 

These are good things being done by two high-profile companies in the business of providing and sharing information between their customers.  The question is whether we can trust either with this most personal of private information, that, if used against us, could be disastrous.  As an example, both companies are known to collect marketing information from online use of their sites, and what if Google or Facebook decided to sell suicide data to a life insurance company?



After all, Mark Zuckerberg, the bad-boy founder of Facebook, has been known in the past to push the limit on how he uses your personal data.  As late as November of 2011 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lodged a complaint against Facebook for assuring customers their data was secure from ad networks or FB apps, while at the same time this information was merrily streaming on its way to both. 

It’s as if Zuckerberg, genius that he may be, comes completely dumb when it gets down to your privacy.  Or is it that he just doesn’t care because he thinks your private information belongs to him?  I spent 35 years in the junk mail industry selling your personal data, but for the last seven years I have been fighting for your rights in this matter.  The problem is the average person is completely apathetic about this issue, allowing the Facebooks and Googles to do their thing.

Google has mellowed over the years since they were accused of holding search data for too long a period of time.  However, in March of 2011, Google settled a complaint with the FTC that its Google Buzz social network violated user privacy.  With a fanfare introduction, Google failed to tell users their personal information might be shared.  These oversights are frequent in businesses who apparently don’t understand the full value of privacy.  Unlike junk mailers, who understand but either don’t care or favor profits over customer data security.

Let me leave you with yet one more example of how Facebook and Google might share this data with advertisers.  Pharmaceutical companies thrive on any means to hawk new and old drugs to the public and have little regard for consumer privacy.  Anti-depressant drug-makers could use a list like this to sell their wares, although some experts in the past say anti-depressants actually cause suicides. 

You may think this is all far-fetched but we are currently in an information-driven society and in my 35 years selling this personal data it was obvious just what a gold mine it is.  And because everything anyone needs to know about you is out there with easy access, it just may be too late to even think about your privacy anymore.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Beat the bankers at their own game with the Ultimate Bank Secrecy Account


Grant Hall

I want to tell you about a fascinating man I have known for over six years who has probably forgotten more about privacy than most privacy advocates know.  His name is Grant Hall and he has just published his latest book on the subject: Privacy Crisis Banking; Bank Secrecy Plan & Resource Guide to Protect Identity, Money, and Property.  If you are looking for the ultimate in privacy protection, Grant will show you how it’s done in the volume’s 175 pages. 

If you want to secure your money and property without giving up your Social Security number or other personal information, there is a way.  Grant will also show you how to do your banking, cash checks, even open up a safe deposit box while remaining essentially anonymous.  And his system puts you in a position where your identity cannot be stolen in the future.  There are certain financial institutions that provide this secrecy, which also includes your business, and they can be found in the book.

According to the author, Privacy Crisis Banking “teaches self-reliance and keeps ‘owners’ in control of money, property and businesses.”  With an economy that still hasn’t recovered and a banking system that has historically taken advantage of its customers, plus there have been numerous breaches of security, this gives the free thinking person a way to put their mind at rest over their assets.

Getting inside the book, Grant launches the first chapter with an account of a barter company, Liberty Services that was shut down probably because it emphasized in its offering the devaluation of the dollar and the benefits of barter, when what it offered was a voluntary means of exchange by individuals and businesses.  Proof that your resources are not safe, even when there is no cash involved.

We are told of the massive trolling of our personal data by government and business computers to learn every aspect of our daily activities and lifestyle.  The question of who we are, revealed by IDs like our Social Security numbers, driver licenses and more.  There are personal stories of actual experiences of those seeking this complete secrecy, including some who have used Grant’s system with success.  And each chapter ends with a “Summary” and “Notes.”

If you are worried about what is happening to your private information, particularly in your banking habits, you must read Privacy Crisis Banking.  I guarantee you two things; you will not walk away from its pages without a new appreciation for the value of your personal data, and you will have developed a new candid suspicion of those in whose hands it resides.

Buy from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble online or your local bookstore.  

Friday, September 30, 2011

Privacy lost…never regained

It was several years ago in 1999 when Scott McNealy, then CEO of Sun Microsystems, said: “You have zero privacyanyway.  Get over it.”  His comments were picked up by the media worldwide and drew gasps from privacy advocates in the U.S.  I was one of them, concentrating in those days on our loss of control over our names and personal data.  I had been a junk mail data broker. 

Appalled, I wrote several posts on my blog, The Dunning Letter, about how wrong he was and how individuals must work to protect their private information.  You can read some of them here. 

In the meantime, I haven’t given up my belief that people should be able to maintain their privacy.  What I have lost is my belief that we will ever be able to attain the necessary level of privacy needed to keep us safe.  And, much of the problem can be attributed to the apathy of the American public toward privacy.  They just don’t care so why should lawmakers who could pass federal legislation protecting these individuals.

Two of the largest warehouses of personal data are mortgage companies and medical offices.  Everything an ID thief needs to take everything you have is in those files, many of which have minimum security.  I was in a doctor’s office recently and my Social Security number appeared on three pages they asked me to check for accuracy.  To ask them to remove it is useless since it can still be found in other records in the same office and others.

So McNealy was right and Americans have once again proved the saying that, “Oh that’s a terrible thing that happened but it could never happen to me.”

Donald Trump Says He Will Be Indicted On Tuesday

  THAT'S TODAY... Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has brought the case to this point, now looking at a possible indictment. Trum...