When John Q Public worries about the government violating their privacy, they

[mfcorey1]

Last edited Sun Jun 9, 2013, 09:29 AM - Edit history (1)

need to first look at the internet (Google, yahoo, bing, etc) that harvest their personal information infinitum. What the NSA does pales in comparison to what a simple Google search can reveal about an individual. There are paid sites that will do investigations, ancestry. com will reveal all your relatives and other numerous sites that will do things like give a picture of you standing at your front door. Where is the outrage about that? And the info is available to a greater audience.

[BeyondGeography]

1. If you're on the Internet you are already being data-mined to death

by organizations that are a lot more nimble than the government. But that Obama liar...HIM!

[graham4anything]

2. You make a great point

and this ancestry site is interesting.

In that, how do we know the info they give us, which most will take at their word, is actually correct?

What if the person behind a site like that one, sends breadcrumbs leading to a fake background.

Then, what if someone else called on the person who is doing the search claiming to be a 3rd generation relative.

One would be completely trusting in that, well they said it was true, therefore it is.

Hey, maybe I am related to the woman who won the 850 million lottery if ancestry told me I was.

yea,and all the people who post on facebook too giving away their life history and photos and phone numbers to boot

[mfcorey1]

3. There are so many errors on Ancestry. In a recent search, I found that when I looked at original

Last edited Sun Jun 9, 2013, 09:27 AM - Edit history (1)

census records, the workers, who actually went door to door for all entries, often misspelled names and it was really difficult figuring out who was a part of the household. It is like deciphering a code. A relative named Fred was recorded as Creed. The Social Security Death Index used to be free, now you have to access it through Ancestry for a hefty fee.

[BenzoDia]

4. This is actually a pretty good point. I've googled myself and people I know and have found some

of "wtf?" stuff. It's an interesting experiment for the motivated.

[Puzzledtraveller]

5. How does voluntarily releasing information equate to the non consent

of the collection of massive amounts of data? How does that escape your appraisal of this situation?

[mfcorey1]

6. Many times information about an individual released on the internet

through public records without a person's permission just as bad. Again, public records is a "need to know" issue. Why should the government release the fact that a person filed for bankruptcy and not allow me to see Mitt Romney's tax return? Both are financial information.

[BenzoDia]

7. What he's describing is online entities engaging in collecting massive amounts of data.

For example, I've found my resume and work history on a site that collects professional info on people. I did not give permission for this.

[mindem]

8. It is not right that the outfits you refer to also gather personal information.

It bothers the hell out of me that everything a person does on the internet is being monitored for the sake of personalized advertisements. Your little argument doesn't hold water.

[GeorgeGist]

9. Your point is ...

[meaculpa2011]

10. How many soldiers, police officers and IRS agents...

are on Google's payroll?

[mfcorey1]

11. You'd be surprised.

[BenzoDia]

12. How much influence does Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc have over the World's nations?

Imagine the laws they'll push for based on their collected data.