Marshall Clow wrote:
On Wed, 11 Jun 1997, Peter Trei wrote:
Did Psychos-R-Us request this site? "Could you create a database so I don't miss anyone when I go on a killing spree on the 900 block of Rosewood?"
When my libertairan streak is in full flood, I think that since this information was collected by government employees and paid for by tax dollars, that it should be availiable to anyone who wants it, for (minimal or) no cost.
Of course, the better solution is to not collect the information at all. (Not selling it just means that people can buy it on the black market, or in the case of TRW, etc; buy legislatures)
It amazes me that in an age when government and corporations have access to untold mountains of information about all of us, that we seem to get upset when Joe Average is given access to that same information. The end result of this is that those with the most authority (access to information) are able to exert power and control over those with less access to the same information. Dateline NBC just did a show about a Health Insurance company whose refused to tell a potential client that the blood test they did on him was positive for HIV (even though they shared this information with other insurance companies). I will wager that if a few dozen Joe and Jane Average citizens knew of this and knew they could contact the man through the Texas DPS database that one of them would have had the decency to call the man and inform him of the life-threatening disease. The Machine feeds off of us by taking away our rights of self expression and self defence and then convincing us that the Machine is our benefactor and protector while our fellow humans are a threat to us and should be feared. Thus we end up fearing people with different religious views instead of the Machine that launches a murderous assault on the men, women and children who are a threat to our mainstream views. We end up fearing the janitor at the insurance company who may well do volunteer work for good causes instead of fearing the Machine that lets us die and infect our family members while sharing our private information with other parts of the Machine. Yes, you may get attacked by some wacko who targets you and finds your address from a database. Or, you may get attacked by some wacko who targets someone else but can't find their address from a database so they pick you as a random target. The Information Age is upon us, for better or worse. If all parts of the Machine are going to know all my personal data, then I also want for myself and Joe and Jane Average to have access to the same data. If the BATF wants to look me up at home through use of a database, then I want Timothy McAverage to be able to look all of them up through the same database. The Machine will make certain that every instance of some wacko using accessed information to abuse someone gets front-page press. No doubt the weak of wit will cry out for the Machine to protect us from abuse of access to information. This makes as much sense as asking to be protected from education and knowledge because of the potential for abuse. We have citizens who decry the fact that information on explosives should be freely available so they demand that the Machine which produces nuclear weapons censor that information. God forbid that someone would make a pipe bomb that wipes out a nuclear weapons factory. Instead of "Give me freedom or give me death." we now have a nation which cries out for security even if it means imprisonment. In our desire for ultimately unattainable levels of safety and security we allow (and even beg for) the Machine to imprison our bodies, our minds and our spirit. Instead of putting child pornographers in prison we will put cryptographers and remailer operators in prison. Instead of confiscating the assets of drug czars will confiscate the assets of people who have a kid who smokes a joint once a week. Instead of censoring legislation which limits our freedom and privacy we will censor literature which proposes democratic assassination of those who oppress us. Personal data privacy is history, for the most part. The focus of those who wish to retain privacy in certain areas of their life and their communication should be on technologies which will allow them to *personally* keep those things private. To continue to leave public information only in the hands of the corporate and government Machine is to continue to empower the Machine and weaken the power of the citizen. TruthMonger