Quote:
|
You can even opt out of several national databases, have to give driver's license, other proof, but as long as it's not a government, you can still exclude yourself from many services collecting your data.
|
The problem is that everything is connected, so even if you successfully opt out of something (assuming they actually honor it) your information still gets promulgated via something else you can't opt out of. One of my pet peeves is that you absolutely need your social security number to obtain medical services, which is then stored on some totally insecure doctor's office system and on numerous paper documents floating around that many people can easily access. I once worked for a company that interfaced with other organizations' databases and it was interesting how much personal information ordinary employees could easily access all in plain text on the client's system. I'm certain the client had stated privacy policies, but they didn't seem to extend to the service providers. Our company was very careful with the information, but it was still readily available to a wide range of employees.