There are two pieces in the current comp.risks digest (16.39) about cross-linking of US databases. References are to a cover story in Business Week. Highlights are hospitals selling name/address info on families with newborns and one state having sold it's drivers' licence register...
-- Rolf
And don't forget that hospitals and doctors will be forwarding patient records to the National Health Recovery Act headquarters outside Washington, right near the CIA, NSA, NRO, Central Imagery Office, FBI, and, of course, the Big Three credit agencies. I'm less worried that a pharmacist will add me to some database he keeps than that my doctor will be instructed to compile a dossier to government standards and then zip it off over the Infobahn to the authorities. Buying "a la carte" insurance for specific conditions and not others is surely a "cypherpunkish" free choice, and neatly sidesteps the problems of having to pay for others in the current way. (For example, someone with no tendency toward Foobar's Disease can elect to exclude this coverage.) --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."