Uh, Folks, Your Data Was Swiped
Ok...let's have a think. We hear this over and over, how various organizations who are supposed to keep our data safe and private, are compromised and our personal information is out there.
Now, these same organizations who are supposed to be keeping our data private, are corporations who can be sued. Most corporations do not want to be sued, so they usually do their best to keep our data as private as they can. They FAIL a lot, but I'm sure they still try.
However, our government has various mechanisms in place to prevent it from being sued. By and large, government agencies have to CONSENT to be sued prior to a lawsuit actually occurring. So, tell me again what incentive they really have to keep our data private?
If banks, Lexus/Nexus, credit card reporting companies, universities, and other large entities whose businesses RELY on keeping things safe and private, are still hacked, how can the government possibly think that they can prevent identity theft with their lovely new RealID crap?
The answer: They don't care. It doesn't fall within their agenda of having as much control over us as possible. They KNOW that these "RealIDs" will do nothing to stop terrorism (most terrorists have perfectly legal "papers," no criminal records, and don't exist on the terrorist watch list because they are stealth... AND they can just steal someone else's identity either through the RealID program itself or another method of identity theft) yet they are pushing for it anyway. Because they do not care about privacy or any other citizens rights in their zeal for control
It's totally chilling to me that the State Department's desire for RFID chips in passports called for crappy technology RFIDs that were easily readable by unauthorized people at a distance, while Chase bank's plan to put RFID on their visa cards uses Triple DES, very short range RFID and much more secure technology. Why? Likely because you can go shopping elsewhere for another credit card. Where can you get another passport?
Uh, Folks, Your Data Was Swiped: "Two banks notify more than 100,000 customers that their financial records may have been stolen, and nearly 700,000 patrons of four banks may be affected. But the banks are giving them free credit reports."
(Via Wired News.)