Technology vs Privacy
[+] Be wary of privacy invading technology
- Club cards
- Signature pads
- RFID
- OnStar
Always do research and think of the privacy implications when something new comes along.
[-] Be wary of privacy invading technology
Club Cards
Stores with club cards track every purchase made in connection with that card in some database somewhere. If you gave your real name and address when you signed up, they can send you junk-mail and sic the telemarketers on you using that data (or worse). Either shop where there are no club cards, don't use the program, or to get the discount while protecting your privacy, ask to use the card anoymously or just use fake data (where legal and ethical to do so). A company can still get their valuable marketing information this way without it being attached to your name. Just be careful not to use your club card with any purchase that's attached to your name (like in stores that also have a pharmacy).
Signature pads
A signature pad keeps an electronic copy of your signature in some database somewhere. Why invite disaster? Whenever I use one of these, I'll write the first letter normally, but then put some unintelligible scribble. Since no one bothers to check your signature, this is rarely an issue. For a funny story about a guy who wrote all kinds of things in the signature pad to see what would happen, check this out.
If that won't work for any reason, ask for a paper copy of the receipt to sign instead. Whatever you do, don't allow companies to store your legal signature in a database.
RFID
Radio Frequency Identification Tags are a way of putting a unique ID serial number on EVERYTHING (and by extension, on you). Imagine what companies (or the government) could do if they could track everything you did and everywhere you went.
True, we're not there yet, but we need to be very cautious about this technology because of it's very drastic negative potential.
OnStar
OnStar can unlock your car doors for you (or anyone who convinces the operator that they're you). It can stop a vehicle being chased by the police (or theives who figure out how to hack the system can stop your vehicle). It can find you when you're in trouble (and it can track and monitor you when you're not).
Worried? You should be. What controls do they have in place to prevent bad things from happening? GM hasn't proven to be such an upstanding company that they should be above this kind of criticism.
See my full article on OnStar here.
