Anyway, it's pretty easy to maintain some degree of privacy in everyday life.
- Don't provide information if it's not required. For example, you don't actually need to show your ID when you fly. You'll get a "secondary screening" (wanded, explosive-detected, etc.) courtesy of the TSA, but they won't know who you are. - Provide false information where appropriate. The grocery store has a fake name and invalid phone number on file for me. I get the discounts with the membership card, but they have no idea who I actually am. Who cares if they know that "Ben Franklin" bought some spaghetti, a gallon of milk, and two 12-packs of soda? I sure don't. - Provide the minimum information necessary. Don't give out your email address where it's not required. Same thing with phone number(s) or address. I see people volunteering this information when it's optional -- it provides no benefit to them at all. - Protect personal information where possible. Use SneakEmail.com to provide easily-deletable, tagged addresses to websites and other such places -- SneakEmail will then forward the mail on to your actual email address. If they sell your address to spammers, or otherwise misuse it, you can identify that at once. If necessary, you can cancel the address and issue a new one. At no time is your actual address revealed to the sender. Maybe use a "throwaway" account with a free email provider as the recipient for such messages, so as not to compromise your personal account. - Use encryption where possible. This won't stop the person on the other end from misusing your information, but it ensures that nobody can read to your message "on the wire" or read it when it's in the recipient's inbox. - Pay cash where possible. Cash is effectively untraceable, and doesn't identify you in any way.
I value my privacy. While I'm sure there's all sorts of public records that are available for sale by different companies (particularly so if I get around to buying a house), I try to keep the bulk of my life as private as possible, as my business is my own.
Anyway, it's pretty easy to maintain some degree of privacy in everyday life.
- Don't provide information if it's not required. For example, you don't actually need to show your ID when you fly. You'll get a "secondary screening" (wanded, explosive-detected, etc.) courtesy of the TSA, but they won't know who you are.
- Provide false information where appropriate. The grocery store has a fake name and invalid phone number on file for me. I get the discounts with the membership card, but they have no idea who I actually am. Who cares if they know that "Ben Franklin" bought some spaghetti, a gallon of milk, and two 12-packs of soda? I sure don't.
- Provide the minimum information necessary. Don't give out your email address where it's not required. Same thing with phone number(s) or address. I see people volunteering this information when it's optional -- it provides no benefit to them at all.
- Protect personal information where possible. Use SneakEmail.com to provide easily-deletable, tagged addresses to websites and other such places -- SneakEmail will then forward the mail on to your actual email address. If they sell your address to spammers, or otherwise misuse it, you can identify that at once. If necessary, you can cancel the address and issue a new one. At no time is your actual address revealed to the sender. Maybe use a "throwaway" account with a free email provider as the recipient for such messages, so as not to compromise your personal account.
- Use encryption where possible. This won't stop the person on the other end from misusing your information, but it ensures that nobody can read to your message "on the wire" or read it when it's in the recipient's inbox.
- Pay cash where possible. Cash is effectively untraceable, and doesn't identify you in any way.
I value my privacy. While I'm sure there's all sorts of public records that are available for sale by different companies (particularly so if I get around to buying a house), I try to keep the bulk of my life as private as possible, as my business is my own.
Reply
Leave a comment