Xah Lee's Unixism

[Alan Balmer]

On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 23:06:57 +0200, "John Thingstad"
<john.thingstad at chello.no> wrote:

>On Thu, 09 Sep 04 13:12:17 GMT, <jmfbahciv at aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>> I really want to know.  People keep saying this but never say which
>> freedoms have been lost.
>>
>
>Since this is somewhat related to computer programming and AI I will reply.
>
>The US has started a initiative to integrate all information about people  
>in the USA into a central database.

Where have you been? This has been happening for years, in fits and
starts punctuated by ACLU lawsuits. The current political climate
(including the Patriot Act) may expedite the process by providing more
money and (possibly) better coordination between agencies, but it's
nothing new.
>
>This includes confidential information like your medical files. Think what  
>you say to your psychologist is confidential? Think again. Being paranoid  
>can be enough to get a "red flag".
>They will have access to all your credit records and will monitor all your  
>travels in and out of the country.
>If you buy flowers on the apposite side of town they can deduce that you  
>have a lover and
>use this as a means of distortion. (Edgar A. Hoover style)
>
Most of the above is speculative fiction. 

BTW, did you mean "extortion"? Distortion is what we see a lot of
here, though Hoover may have done some of that too.

-- 
Al Balmer
Balmer Consulting
removebalmerconsultingthis at att.net