If you are a regular reader of this BLOG, you may have read some of this before, if not, please pay attention.
Our Consultancy enjoys a Security and Privacy Practice, so we tend to speak with some of the brightest and most knowledgeable in the industry, including individuals from the Government.
What we are increasingly hearing is absolutely terrifying, as most of the public are allowing a total invasion of their privacy and personal data with absolutely NO thought as to the consequences.
Our Confidential Information is no longer Confidential, and YOU are at FAULT.
How many times have you filled in something on-line because it was easy?? ….SO easy, that you did NOT read the waiver, and agreed with everything.
Yes, you AGREED to have the recipient of the form SHARE all your confidential information, and you have absolutely no idea who has received it, or what they are doing with it.
So, when you filled in the form to look for the best CREDIT card, your information was shopped to a dozen companies, and shared with numerous credit agencies.
When you went online to improve your credit score, your information was sold.
When you filled in the form on-line with all your CONFIDENTIAL information for a company to find you the most competitive MORTGAGE rates, your information was shopped to a dozen companies.
When you filled in an on-line form for the best life insurance, all your CONFIDENTIAL information was shopped to a dozen companies without your knowledge.
When you fill in on-line surveys, your information is SOLD….yes, you are providing free information for their analytics department to sell. YOU are the product.
When you decided you needed to be fast tracked through the airport, and gave your CONFIDENTIAL information, retina scan and fingerprints, this information is shared INTERNATIONALLY, ever heard of INTERPOL??
Certain credit card companies insist on having your fingerprint, claiming it is to protect YOU, it is NOT. They are amassing ALL your personal data.
Every time you add someone on Facebook, Linkedin, and ‘LIKE” something, that information is sold, but worse, companies like the former Cambridge Analytica and others are able to use it to analyze your life style and friends, because you thought it would be cool to add your education, date of birth, family members and other personal information.
Unfortunately, if CSIS or the FBI think you or one of your friends or family are a criminal, ALL your contacts are reviewed due to guilt by association.
NONE of whom consented to this invasion of their privacy.
When you fill in a CREDIT card application, you are asked for the names of relatives who do not live with you, as well as friends.
Guess what!! If you become a DEAD BEAT, their credit scores drop through association. Yup. Not a joke.
Once again, if you put the name of someone on your form without their approval, you just damaged THEIR credit without their knowledge.
Then we get to my real favourite……DNA tests…….are you KIDDING me?? You have to be INSANE to provide this.
The Government has been itching to gather the DNA of the entire population for years, and you are PAYING for it??
Now, let me mention, once again, that ALL YOUR RELATIVES have their DNA exposed WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT by you doing this. Your uncles, children, their unborn children, shall I continue…..Seriously???
Increasingly there are CCTV cameras throughout cities, roads, highways, stores…….your EVERY movement is recorded. Face recognition is everywhere, now there is software to record your GAIT. … yes, the way you walk combined with your face….if you have a limp, favour a foot, carry your head slightly sideways…..
Voice recognition software is increasingly being used as an identifier..
Using your DEBIT card for EVERYTHING??? Once again, if you ever encounter financial difficulties, you can be SHUT DOWN in 2 seconds with NO ACCESS to cash. Your lifestyle can be TOTALLY monitored through your charges, from date and time, location, to choice of product, and stores.
Have you ever heard of the government doing lifestyle audits?? You have just provided all the information they seek….
Please do not insult my intelligence and say you have nothing to hide. Losing your identity is NOT about having something to hide, it is about companies and the Government knowing how much money you earn, how much you have, what are your assets, (see above) and where they are, who your friends and family are, and whether or not they are criminals. Please do not tell me how your life is an ‘OPEN BOOK’ , when confronted with some of this information, the most ‘OPEN’ books I know turn beet red and stop talking.
When is the last time you cleaned your “COOKIES” never??? Well, hurry up and do it, and make it a regular event.
The latest in the endless ways to remove any vestige of privacy, is airports and check-ins wanting to use Facial Recognition, presumably to make things ‘easier’…..
Then there is the famous ‘BODY SCAN” where they use X-Ray technology to take a total body photograph, which means every bump, ounce of fat, is exposed for the world to see, and if you think for a moment that they will delete it, think again.
There is a certain Insurance Company which now insists that policy holders wear a FitBit.
There is another Insurance Company pushing black box technology to ‘help you drive safely’ , seriously???
Purchase ‘Credit Monitoring” for a mere $10 per month, supplied by, yes, you got it, the very same Credit Bureau who LOST EVERYONE’s CONFIDENTIAL DATA, with their so called ability to scan the DARK WEB, which, anyone in IT knows is a TOTAL FRAUD, as there is no way to scan the dark web, which is the point of it in the first place. ..and bragging that the software cost $1 million is the joke of the century for those of us in the industry……anything only costing $1 million is USELESS. Just the cost of TESTING will be more than that…..just saying…..
A major Hotel chain was just hacked and lost the identities of 500 MILLION CLIENTS.
22 Million identities were just lost in the US holding SECURITY CLEARANCE.
Burglar alarm companies are pushing a new system whereby you can alarm your home, open your front door, turn on your furnace, etc. from your phone……..are you mad???
Personal assistants are always ON, monitoring EVERY word spoken in your home….and you think you have privacy???
SOOO, just to summarize, you use one of these utterly INSANE burglar alarm systems, you have a personal assistant in your home which can unlock your front door and turn off the alarm, what is to stop someone recording your voice, turning off your alarm in your absence and emptying your house??? ……Using YOUR voice to do it from a phishing phone call and recording you…….hellooo…..
Similarly your bank account, which you have on your phone, which can be opened with facial recognition……..hello…….a good photograph will do……probably on your Facebook page.
Thieves are approaching people’s homes to clone the key fobs of people who have automatic keys to unlock and start the car…….theft is up 16%
EVERY TIME you agree to one of the above services, you are eroding your and everyone else’s privacy.
Your sexual preferences, religious beliefs, political views are being watched and sold along with ALL your PERSONAL DATA.
STOP saying yes. START paying attention to this erosion, and say NO.
