PRIVACY, WHAT PRIVACY?

There seems to be a lot of concern over the National Security Agency (NSA) compiling  a record of who we call.  Actually one of our protections is that the file contains millions of calls so any individual is lost in the mass.  They didn't catch the Boston bombers through this file, but it may have helped afterward to find out who the contacts are.  Of course the telephone companies have records of our calls too and who it is registered to.  I used to have an account where they told me each month who I had called, not only by number, but by name when it was available.  Perhaps the telephone companies cannot chain the number called to numbers they call, but someone in the company has access (and maybe several someones) to who you are calling.  If the "white hat" criminal programs on TV are any guide (like NCIS), various groups can access your phone records.  If there are voyeurs in NSA, don't you think it is even more likely within the telephone companies themselves?

As to my comment about crime programs on TV, also people tracking your GPS location might also be mentioned (see programs like NCIS again) and putting tracking items on cars is a hot issue (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/opinion/gps-tracking-and-secret-policies.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130817&_r=0).

And it is well known that e-mails are not very safe, just ask Anthony Weiner.  And people today are not very good at keeping things private.  The recipient of the e-mail tells someone else who gleefully tells someone else, and the next thing you know it is all over the news media, especially if you are a VIP.

Do you use a credit card or credit cards?  Have you thought of what you have done to your privacy when you use these?  I think for many of us, what we are buying is more hazardous to our privacy than who we are calling on our phones.  Someone out there and perhaps many, if they want, know all about your buying habits.  Do you buy a lot of stuff from amazon.com?

Anything you put up on the internet is not very safe and the record exists forever.  It is almost impossible to really delete any content on the internet.

And then there is the matter of thousands of cameras in stores and on street corners watching our every move, at least in big cities.  And don't forget the citizens that seem to be photographing everything with their smart phones, including, by accident, the Boston Bombers.  Watch what you are doing in public.