Is anyone out there paying attention to our decaying privacy? It seems that recent events are allowing the McCarthyists out from under the rocks that they crawled under years ago. Look at this Wired News article and more to the point, this one: Wired News: Total Info System Totally Touchy. I don't know about the rest of you, but this latter system seems to me a crock of crap. Way back when the Social Security Number was created, the government promised us that it would only be used for social security, and would never, ever (we swear!) become a national ID number.

I'd like to see you get anything done from a governmental perspective without handing over your social security number. You can't - don't even waste your time. Regardless of the fact that it is basically illegal to use the SSN of an individual to personally identify them for anything except their social security benefits, every computerized system that needs to personally identify you uses this little number. Sure, there are people in Congress who will want safeguards for this new 'purchase tracking' system that they want to build. But you know what, the law sure didn't help with the SSN.

Our privacy and our personal rights are stripped away daily by well-meaning folks, and while we try to do something, there is almost nothing we can do about it. It's just going to continue to get worse. I don't have an answer...I just felt the need to rant about it.