Privacy

Dearie me, I keep meaning to post more but just never seem to get around to it.

Here are a few links I've been thinking about recently, around the issue of governments (and corporations) and privacy. I'm a firm believer that we should fear the government and do our best to keep our private lives out of the hands of government and corporations. Obviously we can't do that 100%; what interests me is where the balance lies. It boggles my mind when I hear people say "What's the big deal about being videotaped / monitored / fingerprinted; I'm not breaking any laws." Well, not YET you're not.. but wait until something you do every day becomes illegal, or more likely, you have something you don't want the whole world to know about and it suddenly becomes public record.

The links:

Court ruling limits employment drug testing: The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that employers cannot require job candidates to be screened for drugs and alcohol (unless job performance "may pose a great danger to the public"). This was about a woman who refused a drug and alcohol test for her part-time job at the library.

I think this is great. Look, if someone is doing drugs / getting drunk and it's impacting their job performance, then fine. Fire 'em. But do the same if they stay up every night playing video games and can't function at work, or if they do nothing all day but sit at their desk and stare out the window. Pre-emptive drug testing is an unnecessary violation of people's privacy. (And it's not like I have a personal stake in this.. I don't even drink alcohol.)

Pacifist Cal State teacher gets job back: I was glad to see this follow-up after a Quaker woman was fired for refusing to sign a state-required loyalty oath. She had wanted the word "nonviolently" inserted before "support defend the US and California constitutions" and wanted to change "swear" to "affirm". She filed a grievance and the chancellor's office eventually agreed to add "Signing the oath does not carry with it any obligation or requirement that public employees bear arms or otherwise engage in violence," which she was ok with signing.

I'm glad to see this change was made, but I still believe these loyalty oaths are silly. I had to sign one when I was a student at UCSD and took a job doing data entry at the library. Why on earth should that require me to sign a loyalty oath? It's ridiculous.

Fingertip biometrics at Disney turnstiles: the Mouse does its bit for the police state: I agreed completely with Cory Doctorow's post about Disneyworld's policy of taking every park entrant's fingertip to prevent people from re-selling their tickets. (Apparently you can decline and use your ID instead, but not all the employees are aware of this.) Once again, another over-the-top security measure. Some of the comments made about the post say "If you don't like it, don't go," but Doctorow's more important point is how we're indoctrinating kids to view this kind of thing as no big deal. Why shouldn't Disney have your biometric info on file? I haven't done anything wrong! This is scary stuff.

Scotland Yard wants DNA samples from 5-year-olds in case they grow up to be criminals: This one's even scarier. "As reported in The Guardian: Gary Pugh, director of forensic sciences at Scotland Yard, says primary school children should be eligible for the DNA database if they exhibit behaviour indicating they may become criminals in later life. " I can't believe someone is seriously proposing this. So much for "innocent until proven guilty". Imagine if your 5-year-old was deemed a "criminal risk" and had his prints put on file. Good luck getting into a good school / getting a good job / traveling to another country.

Ok people.. if you agree with me, do your part and refuse to participate in silly security measures. If someone asks for your SSN or address, find out if it's absolutely necessary. (I refused to give my address at my local pharmacy when I was getting a refund--they already have all my info on file, why do they need it again? At first she said it wouldn't be processed if I didn't give it to her, but eventually she relented.) When you're leaving a store like Best Buy and they ask for your receipt / to search your bag AFTER you've already paid, just say "no".

A lot of people think these things are no big deal, why make a fuss? But in my view, they are all moving us towards a society in which companies and the government have all your private info, and we simply accept it. When someone asks you to pee in a cup for a drug test, hand over your bags to be searched, or give them your health history, are you just going to say "sure, why not?" You won't care, until the information is used against you.

I'm not even going to get into the TSA... that's a rant for another time.