Keeping Your Online Information Private

Throughout history, gold, silver, salt, precious stones, and fancy pieces of paper have all at one time or another acted as currency, or mediums of exchange.  But at any point in time, the wealthiest of men had something more valuable than the possession of currency, because real wealth comes not from the ground.  Real wealth is based on real power, and real power is based on knowledge.

Today knowledge, power, and wealth are based on information, as data brokers make billions of dollars selling information about you.  And yes, when I say "you" I mean the person reading this article.  The nine largest data brokers have accumulated over 500 million detailed records on everyday people.

Five. Hundred. Million.

Recently, Congress asked these companies how and where they are getting this consumer information, and to whom they are selling.  But none of these data brokers answered the questions directly.  Instead they hemmed, hawed, basically refusing to name their sources.

When I learned about this, I decided to do the only thing I could do.  I spent yesterday morning removing myself from as many data aggregators as I could.  I started by reading "How to Remove Yourself from Background Check site BeenVerified.com"  This post gives detailed instructions on how to remove yourself from several intrusive websites.  Only WhitePages.com have changed how to opt out; now you must make an account and then update your information to hide it all and refuse to allow them to sell it.  This is also how to opt out on People Smart - you need to go here and sign up for an account to remove yourself from their online searches.

I strongly recommend that you google for your name and location, and see what comes up.   The amount of data available on me surprised me, and I expected to find some of it.  Then think about removing your data from the data brokers.  It might not seem to make a difference, but if enough people do this, we just might impact the world in the long run.

The Post Office Dilemma

December is a busy month for most people, as most run around getting ready for the holidays.  Even the post office overflows with people sending packages around the world.

Unfortunately, the post office desperately needs the business this year.  Due to a bad decision in how the post office runs, the entire organization is going down in flames, with a debt of billions and no solid path to get back to running in the black.

The bad decision I refer to is the decision to let Congress determine how the post office runs.  Every change must be run past a body of politicians who have nothing to gain by helping out; instead they act as though they have much to gain by not acting, or acting poorly.  Sometimes I think that Congress wants the post office to fail, though for the life of me I cannot understand why.

What the post office officials need is the power to manage themselves without daily Congressional oversight.  They need to change according to the economy, the real current economy, and not according to the fairyland economy that most politicians live in.  Maybe with some power to change things, the post office could turn it around and begin to make money.

In a case of life imitating art, Terry Pratchett wrote a book called "Going Postal", in which a man is forced to turn around an almost dead city post office.  Pratchett creates his own version of Internet and email as the leading contender for sending messages, then shows that you need a letter for SWAK (sealed with a kiss).  He examines the various types of communications and how each has a place in the world.  If I were a rich man, I'd give every postal official a copy of this book for Christmas.  Even though they probably could not use the methods in the book for prosperity (it is fictional), I think they would find inspiration and hope.

How Congress Created Occupy Wall Street

I know lots of people who ask, “How can so many people participate in Occupy Wall Street (or Occupy Portland or Occupy Atlanta...)?  Don’t these people have lives?” The short answer is no, they do not have lives.  And that’s the point.  

The Occupy Wall Street protesters don’t have lives.  They don’t have jobs, money, security, or a way in the foreseeable future to obtain any of these intangibles.  Some even have families that depend on them, but with no income, how can they raise the next generation to be productive members of society?  

What most people fail to see is that these protesters don’t have much to lose, and that’s why they are protesting.  On top of wanting the American Dream, they really don’t have anything substantial to lose, but everything to gain if change occurs.

The American government, by allowing the “elite few” to run business and corporations without oversight, created these protesters.  By having multi-millionaires run Congress (and therefore give tax breaks to everyone in their own tax bracket), the government passes laws favorable to multi-millionaires, virtually disenfranchising 99% of the population.  After all, when the two candidates for any position in Congress represent the same 1% of the population, does it really matter who you vote for?

Protesters are created when regular, ordinary people have nothing to lose by protesting.  And that, my friends, is where far too many citizens of our country are right now.

We, The People - A New Way to Petition the Government

Scene at the Signing of the United States Constitution
by Howard Chandler Christy

About a month ago, I received an email from the White House announcing a new website called We the People: Your Voice in Our Government.  I hopped over there, and found the executive branch created a new way for citizens to petition the government in accordance to the First Amendment:


Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Basically, any citizen can go there and create a petition.  If a petition receives enough signatures to go over a threshold, someone in the White House will review the petition and give a formal response.  The first petitions had a threshold of 5,000 signatures, but new petitions now need at least 25,000 signatures to receive attention.


I did not write about this website before, because I wanted to see a response, an action, anything that showed the system worked and wasn't just some political diversion.  This morning, I received an email with a response to a petition I signed at the beginning of October.  The petition's title was "Forgive Student Loan Debt to Stimulate the Economy and Usher in a New Era of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Prosperity".


A small digression - I feel two ways about student loans.  I had student loans, so I know the feeling that of having a large debt hanging over your head at graduation.  It sucks. But I also paid them off years ago.  


I want college graduates to be able to afford housing and food, but I don't really think anyone should wave a magic wand and *poof* the loans away.  I signed the petition, though, because I felt that forgiving the loans and stimulating the economy was the best for society at large.


Back to the story... this morning I received an email with the first response to any petition.  Basically, the White House managed a compromise that lets people repay the loans based on income, with a cap of 10% of discretionary income as the maximum payment amount allowed and a 20 year time limit.  After 20 years, all remaining debt is forgiven.  This new policy begins next year, and I hope will allow college graduates to honor their obligations without going bankrupt.*


I also hope that this response means the other petitions, particularly the one about the TSA, get both attention and action.  After all, our government is supposed to be by the people and for the people.  It's nice to see that the people do still have a voice.


* The government is also allowing people with two different types of loans to consolidate them, but I don't understand enough to translate that part here.  If you follow this link, you can read about it yourself.