Name, Address and Bank Pin. Would you like to give me pretty please??

DO NOT POST YOUR NAME, ADDRESS OR BANK PIN.

OR ANYONE ELSES FOR THAT MATTER.

I really shouldn't have to put that warning but I think I should so the headline isn't misconstrued. I thought about this thread after seeing some twitter posts with the hashtag #Snowden.


So I'm not sure how accurate this information is, but it seems Germany passed a law letting investigators collect Name, address, bank pins and IP addresses. Huh, wait what?!

I think if you asked people for this information, unless they are applying for a credit card, mortgage or car lease they would be pretty reluctant to hand this kind of thing over.

The article in question, was quoting a former Stasi officer (secret East German police) who was saying that what the NSA is doing now, makes his former career look like child's play.

That is the accusation levelled at new laws, in effect since Monday, allowing German police and intelligence service access citizens’ so-called “inventory data” such as name, address, bank pin numbers and and internet IP address.

Privacy concerns
Police say being able to access and index cross-referenced data is essential to fight crime but privacy watchdogs say the measures raise privacy concerns and may be unconstitutional.

“What bothers me is this growing ‘vacuum cleaner mentality’, sucking up everything just because it is technically possible,” said Peter Schaar, federal data protection commissioner.

www.irishtimes.com...



When you think about it, the changes over the years are drastic. Essentially, a 10 year old kid with a smart phone has enough technology in his pocket, he would outshine some of the leading, prominent secret spy agents of yesteryear who would have tech devices not nearly as good, costing a small fortune.



A couple things about the whole NSA spying on Germany thing. I think it's pretty clear what happened. To me, I'm guessing because Germany doesn't want to spy on their own people, they contract it out overseas to a frienemy. The US might do it vice versa too.

They are obviously not going to agree to something like that with China, but someone who is a quasi ally, (or is Germany considered a full fledged ally these days?) it makes sense.

The Brits did this back in the 70s and years after. They couldn't do their own spying so they asked the US.



I'm curious where people think the line should be drawn with their personal information. Especially like the stuff mentioned in the title of this thread and so on. Personally, I feel like anything you are not willing to post on the front of your house in big bold letters, should probably fit into the whole "privacy" thing.

Name, age and address for services, fine.

Banking information should only go into record for financial dealings. And even then it's on shaky ground. The debt industry is absolutely brutal. There are offices that sprout up overnight, a bunch of IP Phones with autodialers and BAM! you got yourself a boiler room. Debt companies that sprout up, buy your information and debts from large corporations.

How hard is it to set up a fake one?? Not that hard, as phone scams are always popping up.

A lot of these companies run for awhile, pay out big salaries to executives, then go bust. Bankruptcy filings... and the execs walking away with inflated bank accounts. Start up a new or take a vacation. What happens to your information they had?? In some cases, they sell it off before the company shuts down, or during the bankruptcy payback. In some cases you may have paid a debt, but it will get resold to a new unethical debt company. Or... worst case scenario, a fake company will buy it and you'll start getting scam calls.

To be honest. I'm not comfortable with companies like this holding my financial information.

Are you??

The boiler room, call center outfits usually employ bottom rung, low wage earners... No offence to those people in general, but the cut of the cloth they came from is dubious at best. Now you have a bunch of people, underpaid, overworked, getting yelled at all day through the phone... Someone asks them, "Hey, you have access to those lists right?" and they say, "Uh yeah... why?"

Hmm...

"This guy that knows a guy who is friends with a guy, says, he'll pay us big bucks if you can get your hands on that list for him."

And identity theft is now initiated.

Luckily, this kind of thing is somewhat regulated. And, many are mindful of all these facts. But, no matter, it does happen or there is the possibility of this happen because the way the system has evolved/emerged.





The question is, would you volunteer this information to whoever wants access? My answer is no. I've gotten calls for debts that I never created to begin with. And fixing this kind of thing with credit agencies is a major hassle, taking enormous amounts of time, energy and effort to rectify.

So.. I ask you how many would be comfortable with all their information like this to be freely distributed to anyone who has the 'authority' to obtain it. Do we blindly trust whoever to hold our information like this?

The financial industry has a reason to protect your information. They are entrusted with it, but are also responsible for it. Many financial services offer consumer insurance. If you get swindled, they have to cover it. If you lose big, they lose their reputation. In many cases, simply to protect their brand they have eaten loses and paid out to consumers and medium sized businesses.



But... What about the subject of this post. If we let other people have access to this information, is there an incentive to protect it? Trying not to be too cliche here but I guess I will have to say it, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

WMR has learned from a knowlegable National Security Agency (NSA) source that agency employees are using various NSA data mining and surveillance systems, including PRISM meta-data and phone call transcripts, to snoop on their wives and ex-spouses. In addition, some NSA employees have offered to sell such information to individuals outside of NSA who want the goods on their wives and ex-spouses. -

NSA employees use data mining systems to spy on wives, ex-spouses


www.intrepidreport.com...

AND:

FLASHBACK: Romney donor vilified by Obama campaign, then subjected to 2 audits

Read more: dailycaller.com...

Is it hard to believe that this kind of thing is bound to happen. How high must we elevate people before realizing that it will come back to bite us in the ass.

For the Germans, I seriously question their thinking in allowing a law like that to go through. In the case of the US, I don't understand why more average people are not upset about the recent revelations. How far is it gonna go before people start saying... Uh, that's my stuff, leave it alone.

I wouldn't give info like this to anyone anyway. It's also a Personal Identification Number, not a Personal Identification Number Number.

It's not a PIN Number,. it's a PIN.

Pet Peeve #1.

reply to post by babybunnies


I edited it for you.

I figured since people have multiple pins I was implying a plural but it still doesn't make sense now that you pointed it out.

In my defence, the article states it the way I originally posted.