Information about protecting yourself from identity theft.

The Issue of Privacy

We all need to be aware the issues of privacy and we must all stay informed and alert to the possibility of abuses so that they can be prevented.

In 1949 when George Orwell’s novel 1984 was published, many thought that what occurred in the fictional Oceania could never happen and, after all, it was pure fiction, right?

Your bank can already send you an email when your account falls below a certain amount, even before you realize that your account is getting low. Many of us have cell phone, which have a GPSs, (Global positioning Satellite), or Bluetooth capability. The car you own may or may not have a navigational system, however an increasing number of individual are purchasing after marker navigational systems and installing them in their cars. If you are ever lost and need directions, all you have to do is press a button and request assistance. The system in my mother-in-law’s car will even email her to remind her to change the oil, check her tire pressure, and schedule routine maintenance.

Many individuals have installed Lo-Jack systems on their cars to help retrieve the vehicle if it is ever stole. We have micro-chipped our pets for the same reason, and just recently, the FDA, (Food and Drug Administration) has given the green light for microchips to be placed under the skin of some individual who wish it. These chips contain a person’s medical history, which can be read with a scanner. However, the company who produces these chips has also revealed that the microchips could be used for security purposes, for corporations, and government offices, as well as for keeping track of parolees, and individuals who are out on bound, and even in locating lost or kidnapped children. Imagine how many young lives could be saved if the instant the child is reported missing the police could activate the chip under the child’s skin and locate the missing child. Children could be found in a matter of hours instead of the days, weeks, or never.

The more technology improves and protects our way of life, the more privacy we give surrender.

Our world is nearly completely automated, traceable, and recorded in permanent databases. Our spending habits are already traceable, as is our medical history. There has already been reported cased of abuses with this information. In recent news, employees of financial institutes stole and sold clients’ social security numbers and banking information, in another town a burglary ring was traced back to leaks at a home security monitoring company. These are just some of the examples as to why we need boundaries establish as well as limited access placed on such information so that it is kept out of any objectionable databases.

I'm not a doomsayer and I love technology! If my children were not adults, I’d probably be considering having a microchip placed in them, after all, I had my dog chipped. However, we all need to be aware the issues of privacy and we must all stay informed and alert to the possibility of abuses so that they can be prevented.

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