So Much For Privacy

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I am online because I intend to be. I have no secrets that go beyond the normal human propensities to folly or foolishness that accompany youth, naivete, and/or inexperience. I am unashamed of my past and unafraid for my future. I have a different understanding and expectation of privacy and what that means today.

There is no right to privacy in the Constitution. There are some state and local and even federal laws that exist ostensibly to protect privacy, but just as little as you are aware of their actual verbiage the government is ill inclined to actually protect your privacy. Contrariwise, they are actively engaged in a campaign against it.

One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to privacy is the use of my SSN as an identification number. That's not what it's for. In fact, I make it a matter of normal business to deny organizations and persons access to it who have no business knowing what my SSN is. Once I took that crusade so far that I asked angrily when an IRS agent asked me for it, "Why do you need it?" "Sir," he answered patiently, "because this is about your taxes." That made sense.

Most of the things however make very little sense to me. Although the government might protect the use of your SSN, no other entity does, so as soon as they start using it as an identification number, you are sunk. Not even the US Military or the State of Nevada identify their ranks by SSNs. Sure, we have 'accounts', but that's a big sham. There are other shams, which they do ostensibly to protect us, but which clearly demarcate us as the problem. So much for privacy. We have privacy 'rights': 

• Except medical records, which we must make available to anyone that Obamacare authorizes 
• Except drones, which they government is now allowing to patrol neighborhoods without probable cause 
• Except contraceptives, which must be part of your health care 
• Except tax returns, which you must declare in order to prove you have 'skin in the game' 
• Except how much public employees earn every year, some of whom are identified by name when you see their pay 
• Except your home ownership records, some of which reveal your address, your bank account, the purchase price and your signature 
• Except with whom you engage in intercourse, which has become popular now that Obama backs gay marriage 
• Except when you try to profile people from a certain part of the world that attacked us without warning or provocation for fear they might take offense 

 You have privacy rights only if you want to get an abortion. That is absolutely protected.

Partly, we are part of the problem. We willingly give it away for a few minutes of fame because we are desperate for attention, even if it's bad. Look at all the girls posting up things asking "am I pretty?" online. Then there are the endless strings of Reality TV shows and the resurgence of Facebook privacy concerns which allows you to protect some of your information if and only if you personally go in and change settings from the default to "do not share". Consider all the requests for telephone numbers because someone 'lost their phone' or bought a new one or all the marriage groups where they invite putative attendees to publicly post their address where people who are strangers to them can read it. When they log into things or share pictures that indicate locations where they are and when, they inadvertently help people know what they are doing, where and with whom, and then complain that we shouldn't be looking. We shouldn't be sharing! What is this all for if not to protect you? We should not have to give our consent to things that protect us.

If you voluntarily give up your privacy to get something, that's a different story, like getting a driver's license or applying for Medicaid and granting government access to your driving or medical records respectively. Far too many politicians are actively engaged in things that restrict your privacy while they claim to be defending it. I do not like the Patriot Act or Drones or Obamacare. I do not think the putative gains justify the risks to the people they claim to protect. Yet, we seem willing to bankrupt the nation to protect a very small minority of people who actively resist the help. So much for "you can lead a horse to water but can't make him drink". These usurpations shall not stand. The federal government exists to protect the citizenry from threats from outside. If they want to use drones send them down to help protect the border. Anything beyond that is a huge threat to regular citizens without probable cause, and even then the benefits must outweigh the costs or anyone with half a brain would seek a better solution.

We cannot place our faith in government. Any organization made up of humans is only as good as the humans of which it is made. Humans are flawed. I have plenty of flaws myself. I do not trust bureaucrats with my information, and neither should you. We are not the enemies. We are adults, and it's time we act like it.