Special Response to Joseph Pescatello re: What Have You Got To Hide
The 'What Have You Got to Hide' post of several days ago -- about RFID fears in general and the highway EZPass system in partiuclar, has generated more reader response than any post on this blog since day one. This reader feedback is much appreciated. Moreover, these comments bring a richness of thought to the conversation we're trying to have here. Take, for example, yesterday's comment from Joseph Pescatello which you can see in the comments section of the post. Essentially Mr. Pescatello is agreeing with the article but notes he worries that if he angers a toll booth attendant over something, that person can invade his privacy and cause inappropriate problems more easily via RFID.
That could be true. My only added thought is this: even without RFID, chances are if any one of us angers a toll booth worker, given that these jobs are usually government patronage jobs and assuming there's a license plate on our car, I'm figuring they can learn a ton about anyone just by calling a fellow state worker at the registry of motor vehicles? Didn't anonymity, and with it much of our privacy, go out the window over the years as we've filed taxes, filled out birth and narriage certificates, used credit cards, tagged our cars with license plates, filled out job applications, and put everything on line within reach of any clever searcher using Google?
Here's an example: A news organization kept hounding Google about whether or not the company felt it had some obligation to protect people's privacy. Google ignored it. So a reporter used Google search to find out all kinds of stuff about Google's chief Eric Schmidt. They wrote a story full of personal details about the man. He was so angered by it he ordered that no one in the company was to speak with anyone in this news organization for a year. He later eased that a bit by ending the exile early...
Anyway, thank you Joe for taking the time to send in your point of view. I liked it and it got me and others thinking.
That could be true. My only added thought is this: even without RFID, chances are if any one of us angers a toll booth worker, given that these jobs are usually government patronage jobs and assuming there's a license plate on our car, I'm figuring they can learn a ton about anyone just by calling a fellow state worker at the registry of motor vehicles? Didn't anonymity, and with it much of our privacy, go out the window over the years as we've filed taxes, filled out birth and narriage certificates, used credit cards, tagged our cars with license plates, filled out job applications, and put everything on line within reach of any clever searcher using Google?
Here's an example: A news organization kept hounding Google about whether or not the company felt it had some obligation to protect people's privacy. Google ignored it. So a reporter used Google search to find out all kinds of stuff about Google's chief Eric Schmidt. They wrote a story full of personal details about the man. He was so angered by it he ordered that no one in the company was to speak with anyone in this news organization for a year. He later eased that a bit by ending the exile early...
Anyway, thank you Joe for taking the time to send in your point of view. I liked it and it got me and others thinking.
posted by Dave at Wednesday, May 17, 2006
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