This is the age of information. Do yourself a BIG favor and read this page. DO you CARE about your PRIVACY?

"What used to take weeks to compile on a subject can now be achomplished in less than 15 minutes." Advances in computer technology have made it possible for detailed information about people to be compiled and shared more easily and cheaply than ever.

That's probably good for society as a whole making it far easier for the law to track down criminals, for banks to prevent fraud, and for consumers to make better-informed decisions. At the same time, as personal information becomes more accessible, all of us should take precautions to protect against the misuse of that information.

Until 1971, the Social Security card actually carried a warning against using the number for identification purposes. When the Federal government started issuing Social Security cards five decades ago, some people worried the Social Security number would evolve into an all-purpose, no - privacy national identification system. They were right!

These days, the number tracks everything from college students to video-store customers, and it's virtually impossible to get by without one. Still, many Americans resist it, believing the number has the power to unlock personal information. Privacy experts say people are right to guard their Social Security numbers, but they also warn that keeping the number secret is no guarantee of privacy.

MANY AMERICANS BELIEVE it's illegal to use the Social Security number as an I.D. It's an understandable misconception; up until 1971, the Social Security card actually came with a printed warning against using the number for identification purposes. But that was never more than a suggestion, and one the U.S. government itself has rarely followed.

This all actually has a NAME - It is called "AGRESSIVE DATA COLLECTION" and it may be old news to you that your privacy is for sale. But let's look into just how much information is available.....

For the most important information comcerning this; you can go to a site of mine here and read every aspect of just WHAT IS available to the people who steal identities.

http://identity-theft-america.com/

Every large corporation wants your personal information!!! -- because their customer databases are so valuable. They are valuable because they sell them! It's called database marketing and is used in several ways:

• To try to sell you other products.

• To sell it to third-party company's

• To swap it out with another company's database.

One of the nation's largest banks only 4 short years ago sold their customers personal account information to a telemarketing company for over 4 million dollars plus further commission on whatever sales were generated from that database! The information sold consisted of: (list on Website)

Trivia: Until 1971 the Social Security card actually carried a warning against using the number for identification purposes. Why? Privacy issues. Identity Theft. And that was before the internet!!

What is Privacy anyway?

Privacy is the expectation that confidential personal information disclosed in a private place will not be disclosed to third parties, when that disclosure would cause either embarrassment or emotional distress to a person of reasonable sensitivities. Information is interpreted broadly to include facts, images (e.g., photographs, videotapes), and disparaging opinions.

The right of privacy is restrUcted to individuals who are in a place that a person would reasonably expect to be private (e.g., home, motel room, private business office, -- even in a telephone booth!). There is no protection for information that either is a matter of public record or the victim voluntarily disclosed in a public place.

People should be protected by privacy when they "believe that the conversation is private and can not be heard by others who are acting in an lawful manner." Am.Jur.2d Telecommunications § 209 (1974).

The easiest way to keep information confidential is to disclose it to no one, but this is too severe a method for nearly every living human-being in that it forces a person to basicly become a recluse and it also denies a person medical care, among other VERY unacceptable limitations.

Most of us don't wish to drop out of the society we live in, but people -- the National ID Card WILL soon be upon us...

ARE WE GOING TO LAY DOWN like the BUSH administration *taught* the American people to do?? This censorship of the press- ESPecially since the Irao war...the *SUNSET CLAUSE* which gives the government the power to do what EVER THEY WANT to ANYONE at ANY time and NEVER stop.

Say! -- If you name was no ON that list until AFTER the legislation was passed, do you think at ALL that would prevent them from putting it there???

Well I will tell you this much - the Canadian are NOT falling for this!!!

Canada protects its peoples' personal information FAR more; no one is going to RAM IT down their throats!! and call it a good thing! WOW!!!

If you are not acquainted with the USA PATRIOT Act and its "Sunset Clause". I HIGHLY recommend you become acquainted with it right away!

http://epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/sunset.html

So go to the site above and read this:

"Patriot Act Abuses and Misuses Abound"

and READ more of these....until you understand the government steals Identites far more often than avergae Joe on the street. And uses them for extreme damage on many ocassions.

This is a Horrendous thing! Lambs to slaughter - lambs to slaughter....

A significant minority report across both age groups and in all cities were not convinced that the sunset clause or the annual reporting to Parliament will curb abuse. They felt that if a police officer was pre-disposed to abuse these powers, then he or she will do so and that "it only takes one person accused of abusing the power to ruin the whole process." A few participants, particularly in Halifax Group 2, were of the opinion that the police are already "drunk with power" and that these new investigative tools give the police "too much power."

To accept this is to would defeat the purpose of fighting to preserve the values we (Canadians) hold dear.

So...unless you want this ID theft to stop -- unless you want a wiretap shoved up you a** - you better start lobbying congress ASAP.