More on privacy, via schneier:

[unixronin]

Almost every piece of personal information that Americans try to keep secret -- including bank account statements, e-mail messages and telephone records -- is semi-public and available for sale.

That was the lesson Congress learned over the last week during a series of hearings aimed at exposing peddlers of personal data, from whom banks, car dealers, jealous lovers and even some law enforcement officers have covertly purchased information to use as they wish.

[....]

The committee subpoenaed representatives from 11 companies that use the Internet and phone calls to obtain, market, and sell personal data, but they refused to talk.

All invoked their constitutional right to not incriminate themselves when asked whether they sold "personal, non-public information" that had been obtained by lying or impersonating someone.

In other words, out of 11 companies that sell personal data, 11 companies - gee, that's all of the sample, isn't it? -- had illegally obtained some of that data by various forms of fraud, all 11 knew it was illegal, and all 11, oddly enough, chose to continue to be lying ratfinks about it instead of coming clean.

And we allow these people to stay in business why, exactly?

Comments

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

I read a suggestion that I actually liked, on each access of our personal data, we (the person) gets a cash royalty. Since we can't really stop it, we might as well benefit.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I'd sooner stop it. But I suppose getting paid would be a tolerable substitute. The trick would be to find the optimum value of the micropayment to maximize the income to the owner of the data sold.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

I pictured modeling it on the ASCAP payment system for musicians.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Isn't the first rule of the ASCAP system "The musician bends over, here it comes again"?