Saturday, August 2, 2014

Is Your Privacy Private?

I never used to think much about my privacy. In the 'old' days here in the suburbs, hairdressers would ask all sort of questions.

"You're not from around here, are you?" If they weren't chewing gum, they'd be licking their lips and looking at themselves in the mirror, hand on hip as if posing for a magazine cover.

Before I could answer, they'd add, "Are you married, or anything?"

I would nod my head as best I could  while they'd be pushing it down deep into my chest as they chopped away at my hair.

"Where did you meet your husband? Where does he work?" The questions were endless, and at times I felt as if the whole salon were listening with bated breath as the hairdresser extricated the intriguing details of my life.

Sometimes I thought I would make up stories. Maybe even allude to the fact that I'm a spy or an eccentric millionaire. But I never did. I always told the truth.

In the 'new' days, there are so many more issues of privacy that have to be reckoned with.

You give your credit card number over the phone and the person at the other end repeats out loud every number. Who can hear her? Who else is there? Dunno.  Similar things happen when you check in at a doctor's office or pick up a prescription at the local pharmacy.

"Date of birth?" The person with the large glasses gazing at a computer screen doesn't even look at you as she asks this personal question. You speak softly so that people nearby don't hear.  Heck, one's date of birth is a security question at many online accounts.  Do you REALLY want to broadcast your date of birth? Since the person with the large glasses gazing at a computer screen seems to be hard of hearing she asks you to repeat your date of birth. You look around to see if anyone is paying attention and then raise your voice a teeny bit, just to be on the safe side. Then, you just know what happens. She repeats your date of birth in this huge sonorous voice as she enters the information into the computer.

What about those so-called social websites where you're supposed to list the names of schools you attended?  The name of your high school is a security question online sites asks for. Then, there are the internet groups which discuss the good old days when you were a child. They post photos of the area you come from. Oh, you lived on such and such a street as a child?  Really? Me too. Maybe you knew my grannie?  Oops. The name of the street you grew up on is yet another security question that online banks often ask.

With knowledge of your credit card number, your date of birth, the name of your high school, and the street you grew up on anyone with nefarious expectations can quite possibly enjoy surfing through your bank accounts.

But, nobody would really do that, would they? Dunno. They could, if they wanted to.












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