RadioBanter - View Single Post

D Peter Maus · September 11th 06, 01:51 PM posted to rec.radio.shortwave

wrote:
Not only do we worry about these organizations "listening", but your
employer is most certainly tracking what you are doing - to the point
of firing people -- or making their life a living hell -- if the person
happens to look at publilc information websites that contain
detrimental information about certain employees. It's happened where I
work. And the company for which I am employed now has a "big brother
system" that not only blocks the websites the company deems bad -- but
also reports who has been to those websites and when and how many
times. This includes, where I work, almost all media outlets and
publishing houses. Never mind that I am in charge of ordering
published materials for the company.

But worse than that is the ability of people in this kind of user group
to track who you are and what you stand for. That's come back to bite
me twice in groups that I no longer participate in. If the user group
can access and negatively use this information -- I shudder to think
what the government or other interested parties can do. !!!

Well, now that you brought THAT up. Most HR departments have access
to a number of databases that serve up gathered, and collated,
digestible information about employees under their purview, as well as
candidates for employment. These databases include things like education
histories, employment histories, legal troubles, property ownership and
all the usual employee interest. But they also include things like
internet activities, blogging content, USENet posts, groups belonged to.

What really surprised me--and this goes back a few years, to when I
was at CBS--was when a colleague threw a couple of huge parties during
the summer months, and one day got called in for a little private face
time with not only the GM, but an HR rep and a couple of men in suits,
to discuss his significant purchases of alcohol. We all knew he was a
professional drinker, but we were kind of stunned that his place of
employment could present documents about his alcohol purchase history.

In the end, it was a small matter, with some long shadows. Several of
the staff had been at the parties, and had confirmed his assertion that
the booze was for large group entertainment gatherings. But we all
looked over our shoulders after that.

I was dating the HR manager for one of the newspapers at the time,
and she showed me how she could access the databases that the Company
had used to acquire this information. It was all there. Collated
according to credit card purchases, by date, location, content, and
amount...with remarks on some that included things like names engraved
on jewelry, and the names of his cats and other such trivia. Even the
time of the purchase. All of this information was linked to his Jewel
Preferred Club Card.

All you need to do to access these databases, is to subscribe. It's
not cheap, but you don't need any particular credentials to subscribe.

This information is being gathered and collated about all of us every
day. This is information that the government is precluded by the
Constitution from gathering, on its own. However, BUSINESS, is not so
encumbered. And once the information is gathered, all it takes is a
court order, or a warrant for government to access it. With some
companies, as we've read recently, releasing these data upon request, or
even volunteering it.

So, the Era of Big Brother is upon us, and has been for a while, now.

The concerns of the OP are valid. Someone IS listening. Not through
your television, radio, or cassette player, but through credit cards,
webcams and microphones, telephones, e-mail, and as Wal-Mart has
demonstrated, even cash transactions.

That someone is listening is alone something to be concerned about.
But it's who has access to what is being listened to that has me
concerned. Because, unlike some countries where such information is
highly protected, there are no such protections here.

And once you're on the grid, your life can be opened for public
scrutiny by anyone with a motive. Anyone with a grudge. Anyone.

For most of us, no one will care what we do. For the unlucky, however....

And don't think your life is so boring as to not be attracting
attention. It's not what YOU think is important, it's what SOMEONE ELSE
thinks is useful that matters.

Vigilance.