Posted on 01/31/2004 6:35:52 AM PST by George Frm Br00klyn Park
WBAL AM Radio 1090 {11} Baltimore
Ron Smith's
"Something to Say"
Commentary
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The Privacy Act Subverted
Friday, January 30, 2004
Ron Smith
Last week, the Washington Times reported that a giant corporation that owns all sorts of hotels, mortgage lenders, real-estate companies, and tax accounting services is “getting into other businesses. Yours.”
The Cendant Corp. is working on compiling a database of its millions of customers, one that would include more than 200 pieces of personal information. According to the newspaper story, this is perfectly legal, and furthermore it is a “standard practice among virtually every large company around the world to use databases to better serve their customers.”
These portraits of a person’s consumer habits include all sorts of information useful to marketing: credit card numbers, mortgage balances, occupation, household income and a purchasing-power index.
Since you probably are at least somewhat aware that such data collection is the heart and soul of the direct marketing industry, and that we are all tracked pretty closely all our lives, why am I bothering to tell you this?
For one reason: Deep in the story by Audrey Hudson is this paragraph:
“Although the Privacy Act prevents the federal government from gathering information in citizens, critics say it hasn’t stopped federal agencies from seeking privately generated data, a practice that continues to grow.”
Big Brother watches us all the time, Privacy act or no Privacy Act. Surprised?
Guys, "Public Private Partnerships {PPPs} in action. Big MAMA is WATCHING!! Peace and love, George.
I've worked quite a bit with third-party data. In a way, personal privacy is a lot like personal security - don't count on the government to provide either.
Just as you are best off providing your own security by arming yourself, you are also best off protecting your personal information by taking a few simple steps:
Pay cash when possible
Don't list your phone number
If you do get a telemarketing call, be very uncooperative and demand that they take you off their list. Telemarketers are not in the business of wasting their time.
Use a PO Box for magazines and other non-essential mail.
Take every opportunity to remove yourself from any marketing lists that you happen to land upon.
Demand that companies such as your telephone service provider not sell your name to hot lists.
Make sure that any stores where you sign up for discount cards will not sell their data to third parties.
If you get a magazine subscription, screw up the spelling of your first name or use a different middle initial for each subscription. This also allows you to track how your name is sold.
I only actively do steps 1 through 3, and I hardly ever get junk mail or telemarketing calls. Likewise, I've worked with third-party data, and I LOOOVE it when I have credit card numbers to work with - it makes matching the data a cinch.
I've got to revisit the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 to see if there are any implications for government use of third-party data. I just finished a stint as a contractor at a large bank, and we had serious limitations as to how we could view the data - so we had to house marketing databases at a third-party vendor such as Acxiom. I imagine the government exempted itself from GLBA, but it would be interesting to check.
"Government just pays" is the key phrase.
The 5th amendment requires that.
"...nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."
So, that is one brake that can and should be applied to our government attempting unfettered access to the data.
The other brake to apply to the transfer of this data from corporations to government is for we as consumers to be aware of corporations that would be willing to share that data and begin economic boycotts of such corporations.
Corporations always respond quickly and appropriately when faced with potential lost revenues and subsequent lost profits.
Won't work. The data is the property of third party vendors (or second-party sellers), and the government pays those parties for it.
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