100 Slaves 100 Enemies

Sprint Nextel, has provided law enforcement authorities with the GPS coordinates of its customers some eight million times—apparently without its customers knowing anything about it.

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Sprint insists that subscribers can turn the GPS function off if they wish. But an expert interviewed by TPM says that Sprint can almost certainly reactivate it remotely.

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There is little evidence of the Obama Administration charting a different course, or insisting on accountability for their predecessors.

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It’s reasonably clear that Sprint is not alone. In his paper, Soghoian points to the harmonious relationship that has arisen between telecommunications service providers—oblivious to federal and state criminal law requiring them to protect the privacy of their customers—and the Justice Department.

via Eight Million Reasons for Surveillance Oversight—By Scott Horton (Harper’s Magazine).

The New York Times reports that your information is getting collected when you go to the pharmacy, and while there are some measures to protect your privacy there are leaks. The pharmacies turn around and sell your information to marketers for millions of dollars. The Obama administration enacted some protections of this information in the federal stimulus package, but it won’t matter unless someone enforces them.

The Washington Post reports that more information might be collected about you through cookies when you visit government web sites. (via @allisonkilkenny) This is important because there has been a long standing ban on cookies on federal web sites. Not that this ban has prevented the use of cookies on federal web sites. A CBS news article from 2002 called CIA Caught Sneaking Cookies concludes, “Congress issued a study last summer that found 300 cookies still on the Web sites of 23 agencies despite the government ban.”

For a lengthier explanation on privacy and cookies you can visit the page How Internet Cookies Work from the HowStuffWorks web site. For the concise version, Kilkenny sums it up in a tweet:

The article says it would track cookies, which usually record preferences,name,interests, whatever “auto fill” info you’ve used in the past.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration continues to block “the release of photos showing the abuse of prisoners held in overseas facilities.” Privacy OK for the government, for you it’s a crap shoot. Good luck.

According to a New York Times article (“Another Hurdle for the Jobless“, NYT, 08/06/09), companies are now using credit checks to screen out applicants for jobs as mundane as data entry and secretarial/clerical positions. Common sense says, how else will can you attempt to get out of debt, unless you can find a job?

According to the article, some states have passed bills restricting employers to only perform credit checks if they directly pertain to the job. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill that came before him. Ironic, considering that his state is carrying such a huge debt load.

No human, and definitely no Human resources “professional”, have the right or acumen to judge the ability of a potential employee based on a credit check or other invasions into privacy. In my personal eaves-dropping experience I once overheard one of these “professionals” scoffing at the idea of hiring someone because “he was fired for trying to start a union!”

Without comment the article ends with statement that potential employees must “agree” to the credit check. Obviously, if one were to not “agree” to it, one would find that they are not considered for the position.

This is not something (like so many things) that we can allow companies to decide on their own. They are incapable of making humane decisions. This is something that must be regulated by the government.