Keeping data safe - updated


Don't be surprised at things like the VA files disappearing.

There's a great piece at the LNC website on data privacy.

“We’ve got a new breed of criminals out there now,” said Barry Hess, Arizona’s Libertarian gubernatorial candidate. “Identity thieves are being supplied with the tools required for their crimes by the federal government.  Agencies like the Census Bureau and the IRS collect much more data than required to do their jobs. At some point, we’ve got to stand up and tell the government our private information is none of their business.”

By law, massive amounts of information about you are channeled into various government computers. As the article points out, most people focus on "improving" security of that data, and never question why the government needs to know.

For example, your bank is required to report all financial transactions above a certain amount. Last time I checked I believe it was anything more than a thousand dollars. Why does the government need to know that? The official justification is for income tax purposes, which is reason enough to abolish the income tax.

Your bank is also required to report "suspicious" activity. Depending on who is defining suspicious, that could mean anything from buying grow lights to not contributing to local political campaigns.

Don't count on a cash economy. Stock brokers, mutual funds, and precious metal dealers are also required to report on you.

If these people are unwilling to report on you, they face stiff criminal penalties.

For some unknown reason, your doctor is required to provide medical details on demand. And once again, they face prosecution and severe sentences if they don't.

Your children's teacher is required to report on your child's behavior and what that may mean about your homelife.

Notice that I haven't even talked about drug use or firearm regulation, those holy grails of the modern libertarian movement.

Focusing on the security of the data is the wrong approach. After all, if government didn't have the data, there wouldn't be any need for them to keep it safe.

As Real ID and affiliated programs roll out, expect identity theft to become one of the top five crimes nationally. And expect more and more to happen where the government eyes can't pry.

While I can't officially advise you, I can point out that the information might not be entirely correct. People have been known to "tweak" their data before it got put in the various databases.

Just count on anything that the government "knows" about you to be sold on the open market and you won't be far off.

UPDATE - This was from my May 30, 2005 examination of Real ID.

My second concern is system security. Let's face it, these central databases are not known for being secure. Even if one part of the system is secure, it only takes one hole to reveal all the details of your life. Or to put it another way, even if your credit card information was totally secure, once everything is connected, there is nothing that can stop your credit card number and personal info from being sold by anyone plugged into the system.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Wed - June 14, 2006 at 04:33 AM  Tag


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