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Limit your presence on "the grid"
Yesterday when I stopped at the gas pump, I had to enter my billing zip code when using my credit card to help verify that it was, in fact, me using my card. More often than not, I turn down the attempt to get more of my personal information than I think is needed but in this case, I didn’t take issue with that at all. It's not foolproof but it's better than what used to be required which was absolutely nothing. It's high time they did it, and not just because of the high cost of a tank of gas these days, it just makes sense. I wish that were always true… When I wanted an electronic bridge toll transponder to save $1 in tolls and speed my bridge passing, I provided that same credit card for billing purposes but I refused to give them my license plate number. They already get to keep all the interest from my having to maintain an account with a balance of money in it, why isn't that enough? The bridge agency wanted customers like me to think it was required but in fact, through the results of my stubborn inquiry, it was not. Obviously I know that if my transponder fails to work for some reason, a picture of my license plate will be taken and a ticket mailed to me via the DMV. At that point, the connection with my car will be irrefutable. I just didn't want to "give it up" too quickly. I couldn’t answer to my own satisfaction the question of why the state and local government should be able to know that a car registered to me pays a bridge toll around 7:45am every day of the workweek? I determined it was none of their business and refused to comply. I wish more people would. I am careful to make sure the checkboxes in online forms reflect my true preference to not receive anything, from anybody, ever. For many years now, I've had a post office box where I rip up and toss away hundreds of pieces of junk mail every year. At home, I pay for the garbage pickup and I don’t need my unwanted junk mail taking up all the space in my trash can. I don’t know about you but my desire for privacy even extends to my preprinted checks: they come with nothing but my name on them - no address and no phone number. My home and cell phone numbers are unlisted and on the "do not call" registry. I have multiple email addresses each of which serves a specific purpose. I use firewalls, virus software, spyware detectors and junk mail filters and after perusing my logs, I’m immediately reminded of their usefulness. I'm not an alarmist or a crazed activist. I just have years of experience in both business and technology and I know which closets are most likely to contain a skeleton. I've been shocked at the kinds of information I've been granted access to and surprised by the breadth and depth of data about normal people just like me contained on computers (laptops even) and stored in databases all over the world (especially with the increase in outsourcing). There's much more I do to limit my presence on “the grid" but I am practical enough to believe in common sense. There are plenty of people out there who make themselves much easier targets for identity theft. I'm not fanatical but I am concerned about what I perceive as a slow erosion of privacy rights in America arising from ill-considered or poorly implemented government and business decisions and I believe in resisting most of them and fighting against the rest. If more people did this -- exercise their right to privacy -- it wouldn't be under the quiet assault it is today. Contributed to Boroumand by A.G., San Rafael, California, 2004
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Recently, my business phone rang. Upon
answering, I was asked if I could direct the caller to "the person in charge
of the water." Well, why shouldn't that be me I thought, looking forward to
having a little fun. In my small business, I can always tell the cold
calling salespeople... I strung them along until finally asking if they even
knew what company they were calling and they said no. That figured. This
happens so often in my small business that when I finally hung up on them, I
pledged I would no longer tolerate the waste of my time but will force the
caller to get to their point immediately. It made me think though, strangers
on a phone are always asking a ton of questions and many people must just
answer their questions or else there wouldn’t be so many of them calling.
That got me to thinking about how much personal information is solicited in
the course of an average day. Here’s some examples.
