Lee,

I didn't join in the chorus of non believers before and my position is that you 
are entirely correct.  The TV series "Person Of Interest" rings true and it's 
everywhere and seemingly nothing we can do about it even if we take ourselves 
off the grid.

A few years ago my company began a practice of sending a list of likely 
defectors.  At the time the folks from corporate were presenting this I jumped 
in and ask if we had resorted to placing cookies that then recanted back to us 
the sites the folks visited.  Deer in headlights for I don't think the 
presenter had a clue what I was talking about BUT they gave me a contact in 
corporate that was in the IT department.  My request for info. was never 
answered.

One of my fellow agents said he didn't believe the list was accurate until his 
best friend's name appeared, I mean this guy was in his wedding and they had 
been friends for years.  A few weeks later the man was in the office and as 
they began to talk he said he wanted to go over a quote from another company.  
Ahhhhh, is there anything we do in secret anymore?  Very little.

Like the time you wanted to show your staff that with a sniffer you could pick 
up the passwords and log on info. of those around you, if I remember they were 
aghast at this and changes were made.  Unfortunately the world we live in is 
one of shared information, much more than we ever can imagine.

Ever get an offer from a credit card?   If you check your credit report you 
will see that they have pinged it for your score, if it's above what they want 
then you will be solicited.  My company has gotten so sophisticated in knowing 
about folks we don't ask but a few minor questions to know everything about the 
person and do they fit the model for a preferred rate.

Ever wonder why Progressive Insurance offers quotes for up to three companies?  
It has been turned into an advertising ploy but in reality it's telling you 
that you don't fit the profile of the model and they DON'T want you so they 
will set their rate well above those of other companies so instead of a slap in 
the face they are a great corporate citizen by helping you find a better 
rate......all because they know all about us.

Now the insurance companies are offering electronic devices such as On Star 
(and many other plugin devices) that will report back to them your driving 
habits, offering a much better rate if you meet certain standards.  Next it 
will be life insurance rates as well and until Obamacare it could well have 
been applies to health insurance as well.....will the morticians be willing to 
buy information such as this and then direct mail the most risky?  

When you use a GPS where is the info stored? Will the government be on the 
snoop over our coming and going?  What about advertisers?  When you do a Google 
search the results handed to you are based on your previous habits & profile 
and so often you are limited to choices that may have been more suited but 
Google has decided which you will like best.....they admit this openly.

I could go on until the Big Guy comes down the chimney.  


John


On Dec 11, 2012, at 7:39 AM, Lee Larson wrote:

> On Dec 10, 2012, at 10:12 PM, Harry Jacobson-Beyer <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
>> In the Facebook settings on my iPhone there is a setting to "Allow these 
>> Apps to use your account: Calendar, Contacts"
>> 
>> They are both turned on. Under that is a button to "Update All Contacts."
>> 
>> Under that is this explanation:
>> 
>> Photos and user names are automatically updated for Facebook friends. Choose 
>> "Update All Contacts" to temporarily provide Facebook with email addresses 
>> and phone number from your contacts to update photos and user names for all 
>> matching contacts."
>> 
>> Do I really want to do this?
> 
> I don’t  want to do this, but apparently others do.
> 
> I've been bemoaning the slow erosion of privacy for many years. Years ago, on 
> this very list, I wrote a diatribe about it and was chastised by several 
> people for being an alarmist. Some of those people are still around. Anyone 
> willing to recant?
> 
> 
> 
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