On Fri, 13 Jun 1997, Declan McCullagh wrote:
Get a clue. I did:
Of course there's an essential right to privacy from the government. (Beware government databases: Nazis used census data in Germany and Holland to track down and eliminate undesirables.)
Today the Nazi's would simply pay Experian (was TRW) for their databases. I think the IRS already does. Private databases collect a lot of data that I am not asked about, or from government, or that I am required to turn over (e.g. Government requires a taxpayer ID number to open a bank account, so I can't shop for a bank that offers privacy as an option, but they will then turn around and give the information to the databasers). Since the Government is the origin of the Social Security Number, and requires its use in many instances, there should be a law that I should be able to remove any government-required information removed from any non-governmental-required database. This may restrict my access to things like credit (they have the right to say, no SSN, no credit, which is where I differ with most privacy advocates), but I should have that choice. Right now, the lines are too fuzzy. I think government and private databases should be disjoint. Otherwise "private databases" are just a way for government to evade any restriction on collection or use. And do they have the right to hold stale or inaccurate data? And can they use fraudulent means of obtaining it, or archive data obtained by such means?