Finally! With all the hoopla about the NSA snooping into everything from our personal communications to international espionage, has it occurred to anyone how extensive corporate snooping has become, all without any of us even raising an eyebrow? As I have stated before, snooping by our government may lead to an obvious “slippery slope” of potential governmental interference, but how much of our private lives have we already ceded to Corporate America? With on-line banking, are our “secure” transactions actually securely and privately stored somewhere by our financial institution? Does anyone really know where that information is stored and held in confidence? Does anyone really know who has access to our personal financial records? Does nyone really know how secure our most personal of information is?
Just this past month, I traveled to Utah, Colorado, Ohio, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada before heading back to Florida. Everywhere I flew, the airlines knew the moment I boarded a plane and where I was throughout the many flights. Think that is not enough? Each hotel I stayed in knew exactly where I was because of their elaborate reservation and check-in systems. The car rental company knew also. And each one of them had full knowledge as to what credit card I was using and which bank issued said card. So you see, our personal freedom from third party “oversight” has become a routine illusion, has it not?
Which gets me into my latest frustration. Throughout my travels, I elected to take my wife’s laptop, as mine was acting strange (so strange my wife bought me a new one while away). So each place I stayed, I logged into my various accounts with my wife’s computer. So far, so good…until I returned home to use my old laptop to log into my website. And guess what happens? My hosting server says I must first log into my Facebook account. Okay, no problem…until Facebook decides that someone “else” has been accessing my account on another device and therefore, my account must be “Temporarily locked” until I can prove to them that I AM who I am. Okay, so what’s the procedure? Answer some simple security questions. No problem. Identify some folks in pictures that are “friends.” No problem…except when a photo is displayed with more than one friend and the security question asks me to identify the “correct” friend! Failing this stage of “eenie, meenie, miney moe”, Facebook decided I must forward them an actual governmental issued ID or a credit card to prove my identity. And here is my real problem. Facebook does not require any such identification in order to open an account with them. Facebook is a “free” service. By giving Facebook a credit card have they not now joined the legion of companies delving further into my personal life? What do they need with my credit card number? And why require a governmental ID? Would a copy of my Passport suffice? Who actually runs Facebook? The NSA?
To top it off, my hosting website server would (until I raised enough hell) not allow me to change my password to get into my website without first rectifying the Facebook security issue. Since I independently PURCHASED my website from this hosting provider, why in the world would they require me to first resolve an alleged Facebook security problem? Beginning to see the “slippery slope” of Facebook? Has Facebook become a gateway for further governmental snooping into our most intimate personal information (as is commonly shared on Facebook by unsuspecting users)? I wonder?! As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote, "The most important political office is that of the private citizen." Private indeed!
As an aside, work has begun to complete the manuscript for the Second Edition of "How Our Government Really Works, Despite What They Say". I also have a new book in the works (when I can find the time). As a result, I will be limiting my time posting until those projects are"put to bed." Please bear with me as I will make every effort to get back into the blog posting routine. Many thanks and be well.
Just this past month, I traveled to Utah, Colorado, Ohio, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada before heading back to Florida. Everywhere I flew, the airlines knew the moment I boarded a plane and where I was throughout the many flights. Think that is not enough? Each hotel I stayed in knew exactly where I was because of their elaborate reservation and check-in systems. The car rental company knew also. And each one of them had full knowledge as to what credit card I was using and which bank issued said card. So you see, our personal freedom from third party “oversight” has become a routine illusion, has it not?
Which gets me into my latest frustration. Throughout my travels, I elected to take my wife’s laptop, as mine was acting strange (so strange my wife bought me a new one while away). So each place I stayed, I logged into my various accounts with my wife’s computer. So far, so good…until I returned home to use my old laptop to log into my website. And guess what happens? My hosting server says I must first log into my Facebook account. Okay, no problem…until Facebook decides that someone “else” has been accessing my account on another device and therefore, my account must be “Temporarily locked” until I can prove to them that I AM who I am. Okay, so what’s the procedure? Answer some simple security questions. No problem. Identify some folks in pictures that are “friends.” No problem…except when a photo is displayed with more than one friend and the security question asks me to identify the “correct” friend! Failing this stage of “eenie, meenie, miney moe”, Facebook decided I must forward them an actual governmental issued ID or a credit card to prove my identity. And here is my real problem. Facebook does not require any such identification in order to open an account with them. Facebook is a “free” service. By giving Facebook a credit card have they not now joined the legion of companies delving further into my personal life? What do they need with my credit card number? And why require a governmental ID? Would a copy of my Passport suffice? Who actually runs Facebook? The NSA?
To top it off, my hosting website server would (until I raised enough hell) not allow me to change my password to get into my website without first rectifying the Facebook security issue. Since I independently PURCHASED my website from this hosting provider, why in the world would they require me to first resolve an alleged Facebook security problem? Beginning to see the “slippery slope” of Facebook? Has Facebook become a gateway for further governmental snooping into our most intimate personal information (as is commonly shared on Facebook by unsuspecting users)? I wonder?! As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote, "The most important political office is that of the private citizen." Private indeed!
As an aside, work has begun to complete the manuscript for the Second Edition of "How Our Government Really Works, Despite What They Say". I also have a new book in the works (when I can find the time). As a result, I will be limiting my time posting until those projects are"put to bed." Please bear with me as I will make every effort to get back into the blog posting routine. Many thanks and be well.
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