homelandstupidity.us — Does the Privacy Act of 1974 (which places a few restrictions on how the federal gov't can compile dossiers on Americans) go far enough? When the government can’t get the information on you that it wants because of the Privacy Act, it can always turn to a commercial data broker. And they know more about virtually everyone than anyone else,
Nov 12, 2006 View in Crawl 4
scikNov 13, 2006
How bout a copy without commercials?
thinksageNov 13, 2006
What is interesting is that the documentary does not investigate the government-corporate relationship in full. For instance 'stealing' MP3's and studio movies may not be the priority of the FBI to criminally crack down on every offender but, it is taking profits out of corporate pockets. What you don't know is that the same corporation that you are stealing music/movies from also happens to own all the grocery stores in your area. All of a sudden you are banned from buying your food necessities. It is perfectly legal for a business to refuse to serve you and that the nearest grocery store is 100 miles away. Unfortunately for you the corporation you are stealing from has a pact with the corporation that sells gas in your local area. You guessed it your gas supply is now dramatically reduced. -- Never happen you say? Corporations no matter what want your money? If you ran a business and knew every aspect of your customer, for instance how much he/she spends on average for groceries let's say $150 - $200 a week compared to how many MP3's/Movies $450 a day were stolen. You don't need to be a mathematician to realize that you are in the red financially. That to me is the only conceivable end practice for the private-corporate data mining. There are only so many Starbucks that can be saturated in one area to where the profits start to plateau. Imagine a world where corporations can hand-pick the customers of which will spend the most and manipulate those that won't conform or become a liability. It's not the frivolous laws our greedy corrupt puppet politicians will come up with in the future but, it is also the controllers of the marketplace that will add pressure to daily life. Welcome to the new American Feudal system.
almadielNov 13, 2006
I guess we should just make it illegal for anyone to know anything about anyone else. Thats the only way to avoid this "problem". Maybe we implant chips in everyone that erases any memories they form about people they meet, that aught to do it. Though you would also have to make it illegal to keep records of such things, so writing has to be outlawed. Then we would be at about the same level as primates. Gathering information about people is a fundamental part of communication, you can't have one without the other, and you certainly can't have freedom without it.
scorchedearthNov 13, 2006
I don't think its as much of an issue whether they collect the information as how secure it is and whether that information is abused or not.How many reports have you heard this past year about security breachers which could have led to ID theft? Choicepoint have even been responsible for breaches of this sort.If they can't keep that sensitive information secure, then they have no business collecting it in the first place.
juicygossipNov 13, 2006
It's not right. Our so called privacy seems like it always gets violated one way or another. Everyone has these privacy rules "we don't share your information" I don't believe it, because I wanna know how did these spamarketers get my email address, not only my email how did they get my damn name period! Everyone is out to make a buck even if it means sell the information now and suffer later in court with a civil lawsuit.
noodlessNov 13, 2006
Did ye see it? Did ye see it?<a class="user" href="http://img297.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tiahf6.jpg">http://img297.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tiahf6.jpg</a><a class="user" href="http://images.google.co.uk/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial_s&hl=en&q=total+information+awareness&btnG=Search+Images">http://images.google.co.uk/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial_s&hl=en&q=total+information+awareness&btnG=Search+Images</a>Total information awareness, the illuminati are just messing with you
nonlegNov 15, 2006
In the end, both Democrats and Republicans (and all other "not politically affiliated" agencies of government)have a vested interest in keeping as much data as possible available. The two bludgeons used to justify this are "safety" and "public welfare." Safety is aka "law enforcement needs." Since the federal code, combined with state and local codes of all the ways you can do "wrong" against society number in the 000,000's of pages, law enforcement (read: this doesn't just mean cops, DEA, BATFE, but also EPA, OSHA, etc.,) every single one of us is guilty, or will be guilty of violating a law before the day is out. How many of you destroyed the tobacco tax stamp on the cigarette pack you opened this morning? It's criminal not to! Both sides, including the "neutral" agencies that require people to arrest to justify their existence, have an interest in mining as much data as possible. Made debit card transactions over five weeks in a state where you don't live? This might mean you moved and didn't pay property tax on your car, or sales tax on your purchases (you know, you rich people avoiding taxes to hurt the little man)... Republicans want to wiretap to protect us from terrorists, Democrats want to keep records of each round of ammo I've purchased. You know, just in case. Public welfare typically devolves into a lot of the nuisance class laws, which can be government keeping records about that well on your property and being required to "test" it every year. Did you know that most major airports (run by a public authority) take pictures of your license plate when you enter and exit parking facilities. Can't lose the revenue, you know.Both of you (well, this is Digg, so all you lefties) keep pointing at Republicans and BushEvilHitlerHaliburton as if they were doing anything that wasn't being executed by liberals on just as many levels. The justifications made for tax revenue, especially education (it's for the chiiiildren), which is overwhelmingly canted to the left, who also have a hyoooge stake in collecting data about you and yours. They don't care where it comes from.