Privacy, secrets, and your phone company

Amen, P-Offed. There's

Amen, P-Offed. There's always an idiot, and most times that idiot is enabled by a whole flock of people who just don't want to get involved (that is, exercise their powers of logic and discernment lest they conclude that They Should Do Something). Sorry that happened to you; did you escalate? I really hope you didn't get the paid mailbox; USPS oughtn't be financially rewarded for hiring jackasses...

is it getting worse or is it

is it getting worse or is it just me? just like MFH said - it can take just one idiot person. When my mailman found out I was a lesbian, all my 'lesbian' themed mail was mysteriously opened, damaged, put in a nice plastic bag with an apology note stating this happened due to machine problems, etc. I complained non-stop to the postal inspector and the solution? for me to purchase a mail box.

So I understand the just one person finding out something and then using it against you and for what? to get their rocks off with power. This warrantless stuff must stop because there is always and idiot among them.

You know it will be

You know it will be breached.

The problem is that Americans are too passive.

The ones that are responsable are upper management.

Inquire.

Amen to that, MFH -- and

Amen to that, MFH -- and heaven help us, that sort of person often gravitates to exactly those jobs, to the detriment of both the public and co-workers. (And let's not forget that you don't even have to have something "to hide" to be endangered by overacquisition of data. If data exists; it can be compromised. Imagine the horrorshow if that compiled data was breached and misused; since the entities in question are obviously playing fast and loose with a few laws here, why on earth would anyone expect them to abide by disclosure laws? And how screwed are the affected consumers in that case?)

Feh... something that the

Feh... something that the surveillance mad tend to forget or ignore... Everybody's got something to hide (including me and my monkey) the only question is whether what we have to hide is what they are looking for this time.

For most of us, the answer is no, what we are hiding is not what they are looking for... At this time at least.

The law, at this time, doesn't care what secrets most of us have... but that doesn't stop our secrets from being discovered through warrantless surveillance should we be mistaken for someone else... and it doesn't prevent leaks or blackmail should our secrets be juicy enough.

And this includes disclosures about secrets that don't touch legality at all... some are just embarrassing. 10 years ago, i had a neighborhood watch busybody try to blackmail me... threatening to tell one girlfriend about my other girlfriend... didn't work because the already knew about each other... they were dating before I came into the picture.

Instead he went for public denouncement of our "sins"...

Imagine such a moralistic and acquisitive jerk at the phone company or with a badge...