There was of course, no way of knowing, whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire, was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live, did live, from habit that became instinct-in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”
– George Orwell, 1984
What do you have to hide? If you are like most citizens, the answer is nothing. You work hard, pay your taxes and maintain a clean slate. Your main concerns are family, a home and maybe a luxury item that you allow yourself from time to time. Whether you are considered middle class, upper middle class or financially independent, the odds of your personal privacy being violated probably seems remote. Those who seem concerned with such issues, most likely appear to either be paranoid or involved in illegal activity.
The facts however, paint an entirely different picture. In an age of computers and other sophisticated devices, your privacy has virtually gone the way of “Packman”. Your most sensitive, personal information has a price tag on it and is sitting, for all practical purposes, on the shelf at your local computer store. Current laws are incapable of keeping pace with the technological advances occurring in our society. Like most rights or privileges, once left unprotected, your privacy is easily lost. So, for those productive citizens with nothing to hide, this black-market can create a very uncomfortable feeling of being violated. Even worse, it can cost substantial sums of money should a thief obtain information such as bank account numbers, credit card numbers or other personal data. The strides that computer hackers and other unscrupulous individuals have made against privacy are so vast that a “privacy bill of rights” has been discussed by the United States Congress.
As long ago as 2006, Senator Hillary Clinton called for a comprehensive privacy agenda again including the need for a “privacy bill of rights.” Senator Clinton expressed her perspective on privacy stating, “At all levels, the privacy protections for ordinary Americans are broken, inadequate and out of date. It’s time for a new comprehensive look at privacy. We need consumer protections that are up to date with the technological and national security needs of our time, for a world in which we can be confident that our security and our privacy are both protected.”
Whether or not the American Congress will ever take this issue seriously is a matter for debate. It has been almost twenty years since the “Code of Fair Information Practices” was reviewed. The United States telecommunications laws have not undergone a major underwrite since 1934.
A right to privacy is one of the most basic and natural rights, which is why it is also the most essential to citizens. How many of us can really say our life is an open book? How many would want to do so?
Privacy for Profit
The motive behind violating someone’s personal privacy is not gossip, it’s money. For the most part, those in tune to your private matters are total strangers. This has become a multi-billion-dollar industry with little in the way of checks and balances. The damages being done are subtle, quickly accomplished and not usually detected until much later. It is now possible to break into your home from a computer 3,000 miles away and leave little in the way of evidence. The information being taken can include everything from how much money you make, your medical records, social security numbers, phone call history, purchasing habits, credit card numbers, credit history, cars owned or leased, pets registered, names & ages of children and much more; the list is infinite. In a few extreme documented cases, stalkers have enlisted private information brokers to obtain the home addresses of famous individuals. The results can be tragic.
You can virtually be guaranteed that during the course of reading this article, someone unknown to you, and without your permission, has accessed privileged information. Found in many different forms, these types of unauthorized accesses to information can be as easy as cross-referencing an 800 or 900 phone number that you recently called, to obtain your address. Yes, you can bet that if you responded to an advertisement with those prefixes, that your name, address and phone number will be coded with the product or service as a registered interest and then later sold. Did you ever wonder how you received blind solicitations from companies for a hobby or personal interest? The person accessing your information may be doing it for much more ominous reasons.
Recent statistics show that one of every four Americans has been victim to Identity Theft, one of the most severe types of privacy violations. Your social security number in the hands of a knowledgeable thief can have devastating results. False identities can be established, credit cards used and bank accounts closed.
Selling Information
Selling information is a growing industry. Any list of information merchants starts with the traditional sellers using conventional sources, such as major credit card companies. As much information as they have, or can get, is sold to third party vendors. Credit Bureaus are also in the business of selling information, and maybe most shockingly, a new player has evolved into this marketplace. State and local governments, who many citizens regard as protectors of privileged information, are now engaging themselves in the business of selling data. Cash hungry governments are selling information pertaining to civil filings, court records, traffic ticket information, voter registration, property rolls, etc. This data is being sold to “information brokers” for resale to anyone willing to pay. It has been recently estimated that the US Government maintains 16 files for every man, woman and child living in the United States. With a population of over 350 million that information base has reached an incredible level. The list of those willing to purchase such information include attorneys, collectors, investigators or even potential employers and creditors.
Freedom is the ability to live life in peace without undo intrusions by government agencies, bureaucrats or others that have their own self-interests and agendas.
Privacy Violations
History is filled with examples of governments invading the privacy of its citizens. With the line between legally obtained data and intrusion blurred, action is needed. The problem will continue to exponentially grow without preventive steps.
In 1914, the Supreme Court heard Weeks v. United States, a case concerning the search and seizure of items at a private residence. Evidence gathered against Fremont Weeks proved that he was selling lottery tickets by mail, violating anti-gambling laws in the state of Missouri. The Supreme Court, however, determined that the evidence was gathered illegally, violating Fourth Amendment protections, and therefore could not be used as evidence in a court of law.
The question of what constitutes illegal search and seizure has blurred as property is no longer just physical but often electronic. Well before the development of the Internet, the Supreme Court heard the case of Olmstead v. United States in 1928. In this case, Roy Olmstead was accused of illegally producing and selling alcohol during the period of prohibition. While none of his physical property was searched, Olmstead’s private phone conversations were wire tapped and used as evidence in the case. The Supreme Court found in favor of the People, declaring that the Fourth Amendment was not violated as nothing was physically searched or seized. In a now famous dissenting opinion, Associate Justice Louis Brandeis logically assumed that the Fourth Amendment should be expanded to include telephone conversations. He noted at the time the Amendment was written, the only means to search was by violent physical intrusion; however, with the advent of technology, illegal search would need to be defined much more broadly.
As early as 1928, Americans have factored in changing technology with new definitions of illegal search. Today, computers are regularly confiscated in investigations to track web browsing history, emails, bank records and much more. We open ourselves to public eye when we create electronic profiles through our personal websites, social and professional networking sites. We shop online, we bank online, we pay bills online, and each time we do so we leave our records vulnerable to search by both government agencies and criminal predators. Generally, the increased ability to gather and send information has had negative implications for retaining privacy. As large scale information systems become more common, there is so much information stored in many databases worldwide that an individual has no way of knowing of or controlling all of the information about themselves that others may have access to.
Protecting your Privacy
The right to privacy is one of the most essential and natural rights given to citizens and as such, the need to protect it is vital. While advances in modern technology have made our daily lives much easier, these advances have also opened all individuals to a higher threat of becoming victim to potential privacy violations. Buyer and User beware!
– An Excerpt form an upcoming book by Jeffrey H. Corbett
