Those charities you donate to, your political beliefs, your shopping habits, your educational data and your contact information. It’s out there, and people are buying it. I was reading Business Intelligence Lowdown: Top 10 Big Brother Companies: Ranking the WorstConsumer Privacy Infringers, yet another article in a long list I’ve come across that reveal how much you actually give away, even though you feel your privacy is secure. It’s unprecedented in this day and age- how much your personal life is, well, everyone else’s business.

How much would you sell your private data to a company for? Would you take $100 to let someone see every site you have visited over the past year, how about $1,000? Unfortunately, you never get to decide how much your privacy is worth to you, because these companies aren’t asking your permission.

My friend was Ron has been talking about keeping every part of his online interactions to himself. I can understand that, but it’s two steps ahead. If people are really interested in keeping themselves to themselves, we need to start some forward thinking on how to solve our identity crisis as citizens.

I am a privacy advocate. Perhaps it’s something subconscious, because I don’t have a great reason for it. I shred everything with my name on it before throwing it away. I don’t give out my phone number at Best Buy. I take the time to read those privacy statements that come with my credit cards. I’m on the do not call list, the do not mail list.

I think things are a little out of control in this country when safe guarding yourself is a habit nearly everyone in one way or another participates. Not you? I bet you’ve been hesitant to give your phone number, or maybe you felt uncomfortable when someone you work with is standing next to you when you type in a password. Many people have 2 e-mail addresses, so one can stay private. A PO Box for the soul, to leave your regular in-box open to only the people you really know. And do you really know them? What do you hide from the people you care about?

It’s easy to take it to extremes, I know. Do I really need to shred my mail? Probably not. There’s certain levels of privacy we all have come to expect and appreciate though. I tell my passwords to people I know. I don’t mind telling people I like how much money is my checking account. We’re all people, face to face- and I believe in sharing the human experience.

What truly bothers me in those people I don’t know keeping tabs one me. I don’t believe the old saying ‘if you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide.’ Fuck that- I like having the power to decide who knows whats, why and how. Check the article above. Google ranks #2 on the list:

It seems the only thing growing faster than Google’s control of online searches is their database which they hope will eventually hold information on every internet user in the world. The information Google stores on its users is great enough to create a virtual identity equipped with information ranging from favorite flavors of ice cream to sexual fantasies. And who can forget Google’s infamous eye in the sky, also known as Google maps. How scary of a thought is this: a group of people monitoring servers in California know everything you did yesterday, your major plans for the rest of the week, and where you live. To top it off, Google offers services such as GMail and Web Accelator that can store even more information about your personal life. Google’s most prominent form of data assimilation lies in their cookies. Where most websites set cookies to expire in a few days (or in rare cases a few months) Google configures their cookies to expire in 30 years.

It’s not even that hard. The web statistics generated by mikull.com tell me about you, too. I know where you’re logging in from, what operating systems you’re using, and exactly how much time you spent reading this article. Why do I need to know that? Web stats help webmasters design more engaging sites. Innocent, right? But what if I was selling something. Better yet, what if I was writing about something someone else was selling, and they offered to pay me for your browsing habits? It’s not illegal, and it’s not so far from the logic behind Google Adsense. I don’t need to tell you that just because something is legal means it’s right.

I suspect some of you think you’re safe because you also ‘eye your statements’ for those not so legal identity thieve flags, right? Surely you would notice hundreds or thousands of dollars being spent outside your normal budget. Guess again.

In some twisted way, it makes sense when a criminal steals your identity to rip you off for thousands of dollars. You might call that normal crook behavior. But these days identity thieves, who now range from far-flung organized crime rings to local drug addicts, are also using your identity for the basics, such as groceries.

From the Patriot Act to the crafty waitress in your local restaurant with a magnetic reader- it’s always reasonable to assume you’re at risk. Identity thieves have been hard at work since the late 70’s - early ’80s, using whatever they can to get at personal data. You don’t need to be a ‘computer person’ to be at risk. The more information about you stored in databases, even collected about you as a ‘consumer’, the greater the risk you run being exposed to this crime… Awareness is helping, but the facts are still alarming.

• Within the last twelve months, 9.3 million Americans were victims of identity theft.
• The total U.S. annual identity fraud cost remains essentially unchanged since [the FTC's] 2003 [results], at $52.6 Billion, an increase of 2.3% from the 2003 inflation-adjusted level of $51.4 Billion.
• Most thieves still obtain personal information through traditional rather than electronic channels. In the cases where the method was known, 68.2% of information was obtained off-line versus only 11.6% obtained online.
• Conventional methods such as through lost or stolen wallets, misappropriation by family and friends, and theft of paper mail are among the most common ways thieves gain access to information.
• The number of US adult victims of identity fraud decreased from 10.1 million in 2003 and 9.3 million in 2005 to 8.9 million in 2006.
• Total one year fraud amount rose from $53.2 billion in 2003 and $54.4 billion in 2005 to $56.6 billion in 2006.
• With the mean fraud amount per fraud victim rising from $5,249 in 2003 and $5,885 in 2005 to $6,383 in 2006.
• The mean resolution time is at a high of 40 hours per victim in 2006 compared to 28 hours in 2005 and 33 hours in 2003.

I’m running from corner to corner on my soapbox, so let me draw this together. I’ve been posting about privacy for some time. Believe this: It’s OK to interject a little bit of paranoia into safeguarding your identity. We live in a world of new, emerging technology. We live in a world of old school, identity-thieving criminals. Big business is storing information about us while homeland security is demanding it. Be prepared, and be aware.

Related mikull.com topics:

• Government to Force Your ISP to Spy
• Your Ipod and Your Privacy
• FBI Somewhat Useless. Feel Safe?
• Big Brother Is Watching
• Easy Ways to Protect Your Privacy

Filed under: Society