monitoring you..

[rockriver]

folks,
on another board some guys were complaining about nosey bank tellers.
some folks bragged about how they smarted off to the tellers.
--
whether to a bank teller, or an insurance employee, or a cop, or a medical worker, or a gov't employee. many of us have "given them a piece of our mind."
and felt good as we walked off about how we "burnt them a new one."

here's the problem...

most of these folks will be entering forms and documents about you as part of their job.
most of the time, you'll never see or know what was entered.
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example: "lets just say there's this guy" who worked for a large insurance company (lic) in the claims dept...
low level guy... nobody important... dealt with the public/customers face to face...
for decades the ins. co. kept their business and customers business to themselves... they didn't share information with other financial institutions, government, etc.. .
most every other ins. co. did...
a few years ago the lic decided to start participating in the "sharing of information."
some of this was initiated when some gov't rules made it nearly impossible not to share..
a new rule came down the pike.
this guy now had to enter all kinds of detailed info on every body he dealt with... every policyholder with a claim and every body that wanted money from the policy.... (I'm trying to keep this story short... really I am, but folks need to know this stuff)

during and after dealing with the folks this guy was supposed to "update" the information.
ss numbers discovered, a.k.a names, addresses, details of injuries, medical providers, injury codes off med reports, other accidents, health issues, other involved parties and their details. etc... and etc...

the guy didn't like getting so nosey and into folks business... he didn't like reporting stuff that disclosed other peoples details. he saw open doors of possible abuse.
the guy learned that he could stay within the law/rules by putting very basic name/address/ss and minimal info. this helped the involved customers and they never knew they were being helped by this guy.
but, what if the parties he was dealing with were huge cussin' mfing insulting, back stabbin' lyin' pos jerks.
why not go ahead and fill in every blank. cross every t. dot each I. dig a little extra to get add'l private info on the pos jerk.
of course, this guy in the story never responded in a negative way to hurt or add add'l info to the "sharing of information" system..
but he was supposed to.

the bottom line of this long story... is this... don't give folks an excuse to hurt ya. there are many police officers, gov't employees, bank employees, insurance folks, that just want to do their jobs and go home.
suggestion, if at all possible, let them. maybe they will help you keep your info private.

rr

[justanothergunnut]

excellent points RR. Sometimes we do better by pretending to just "go along". A prime example would be answering questions about gun ownership. I suggest you lie. Say you do not own guns and their are none in the home.

[Not_Yet_Prepped]

I am with you!

I try to be respectful to anyone I deal with... But there is a very fine line here. Allowing people to collect TOO MUCH info cuts in many ways... Each way most likely not too deep but death by 1000 paper cuts or a cutting off your head is death either way you "cut it".

#1. If we allow those people to collect too much info than we (and those around us) become acclimated too it and next time share even more info.

#2. If the guy collecting the info gets acclimated to his task as being "acceptable" to collect too much info then the next time someone is "OVERLY PRIVATE" he might label that person as possible a "CONCERN".

#3. Once the info is out there it is OUT THERE... It never gets deleted or shredded/trashed. With the way "the rules" are changing seemingly daily who knows what "Uncle Sam" will have access to and who he will share it with and how it may be used against you or your loved ones.

#4. Do you know if their IT guys has their POOP together enough to protect your personal info from outside hackers (possibly "military grade" level attacks) and maybe misuse by internal employees.

For example... Many hospitals collected/noted your "religious preference" before going under the knife (just in case)... This was not shared with anyone and many willingly (myself included) shared this possible very personal information with said hospital. We believed that "HIPAA" and other regulations protected our personal information. But now with new laws (Obama Care) this info is being gathered together and then redistributed (or made available) to 3rd parties for Insurance and other purposes. The government sites and many of the Insurances sites are not secure enough.

Which means all that info is NOT secure. And therefore all the info you have ever given a Doctor/Hospital or Insurance company is just 1 hack (or mistake see note at bottom) away from being shared with someone who wants to "mis-use" the information for their own agenda. It makes no difference if that agenda is to make money off of you or punish you... Either way you get hurt.

So be polite, but DON'T SHARE too much info... Either politely get out without answering the questions or sometimes a flat out lie may be required (pray for forgiveness after, and pray not to be put in that situation again too).

"Do you own any guns?"
"No... SHOULD I?"

NOTE: MISTAKES HAPPEN
There was a very minor story of what should be of great concern to us: A few months back a man signed up for "Obama Care" and when he finally got all his documentation back in the mail... It was NOT his info, instead a mistake had been made and he was sent all the personal/medical info (including SSN) of someone else. If said repictant had wanted to steal an Identity then it was handed to him on silver plater. Many blame the Government but it is people (all of us) that willingly shared our personal info but did NOT DEMAND someone protect it.

[rockriver]

not yet and just,
good comments.
let's just say... the cop was supposed to call you back at 9 am and he doesn't. so you call and leave him a couple of messages...
then you decide to call the cops boss... the boss pulls cops file on incident and realizes the cop hasn't done all he was supposed to,
so he bears down on cop.... that that file be complete in all regards... oops.. you just shot your own foot.
--
a local large medical practice... has advised that they were paid... several hundred thousand to hurry up and "input all of their records into the gov't system." so that "all a patients medical records would be available."
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"Which means all that info is NOT secure." stated by not yet,,,, is correct...
when that insurance guy mentioned above saw what was already documented on folks he was shocked...

comments on not yet's numbered points.
1. yes.. it's probably too late... but we can be careful about added info we give. and we can do things to help keep "the file" in the drawer.
2. you are right on.
3. exactly.. I took a class last fall.. they were so careful to tell us how they would handle our applications and when they would be shredded. lots of nosey questions. before the class was over someone filed a ? request under sunshine laws ? inquiry... class was gov't sponsored... info was sent to requestor on everyone in our class.
4. the IT guys don't have their poop together.. especially with health care issues... see my point above about the large medical facility.

it appears to me that it is too late for most folks that are living "out in society" to have any privacy... now if you are the hermit type
that doesn't use gov't services, doesn't buy insurance in their name, lives in Appalachia or similar maybe you are "off the books."

so 99.9 % of us need to plan accordingly.
rr

[Not_Yet_Prepped]

Sad thing is I think I am part of that 99%...

I, not too many years ago, was part of the "If I am doing nothing wrong, then I have nothing to worry about" crowd. I now realize that FREE people should ALWAYS worry about what their government is doing (not what is says it is doing but what it is actually doing). Sure currently the info gathering is relatively harmless... But the Germans had nothing to worry about UNTIL THEY DID. Neither did the Russians, Nor the Italians, Nor the Koreans, Nor the Chinese.