Negligent again

But then I doubt anyone actually reads this thing. Not that I could come up with things to say if I did have a regular audience. I wanted to recap some things from one of my favorite web sites again, some old some new.

The government is going ahead with its plans to eventually have a national database containing invaluable personal information on everyone in the US, so that hackers only have to break into one system to get all the information they need to steal your identity. Oh and it might help protect our children from terrorists and pedophiles. Please think of the children. The original article at which I started is located here. It seems the Military is the first to jump onboard by creating a shared database of high school recruits, so that all branches can harass 16- 18 year olds in a more efficient and all encompassing manner. I remember that as an option for funding of college I took some aptitude test and the Marines called or mailed me every month for 3 years, and annually for 3 more. Apparently they had spasms when they saw my test scores and proceeded to look up my SAT score. Now I suppose the database would allow all of the branches would take turns recruiting me. Good thing, cause I would probably have to go AF. That is if they want my bad eyesight, chronic allergies, and mild asthma. With the recruiting problems they are having now I’d probably be in line for maintenance somewhere.

As referenced at the bottom of the page in the above link the SCOTUS also ruled for seizure of private property for the benefit of society, even if that benefit is selling the land to a shopping center. I’ll just bet that there aren’t any City or County Council Members that live in that neighborhood. Seizure for the public good makes sense and is necessary for public works projects, but extending it to private development gets sticky. Lets just see what kind of Pandora's Box this opens up. My bet is that it will edge slowly for a few years and then jump in all at once.

After all the talk about the Real ID plan above, it was nice to see this appear. There is indication that a bill to combat identity theft is being batted about in Congress. I like a lot of what it wants to do. I agree that making the institution that allowed the information to be pilfered responsible for the monetary compensation and primary cleanup of the mess would be a good step as well. Given the Real ID project I wonder if Congress might inadvertently paint themselves into a corner if they don’t use utmost security on their database. There's just something poetic about the Fed having to pay to fix someone's credit. Given that everyone will be in the database though, I'm planning on memorizing a new SSN in a few years.