Concerned about data security

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I am not telling you anything you do not know by stating that the personal computer has, literally, reinvented and changed the way we work and live our lives. It is also an excellent example of how change is not always all for the better.

I recently had an experience with the United Parcel Service (UPS) while attempting to use a tracking number. I was trying to find out when the delivery of a package containing merchandise bought on the Internet could be expected.  

As a regular Internet customer, I always went to UPS.com and entered the tracking number in the appropriate prompt to ascertain the information. This time, UPS changed the procedure. It seems they wanted to be certain that I was really the person to whom the package was to be delivered.  To achieve this, I was asked three multiple-choice questions.

First I was given a list of four cities and asked which one I had once lived in. The only city that made any sense was a town that I called home 30 years ago. Next there was a list of four streets where I once lived. The only answer that was plausible was the street in the town of the previous question. Finally, I was questioned as to which of four telephone numbers I had before my present telephone number. Having scored 100 percent on this exam, UPS, now certain enough of my identity, provided the information I was seeking.

In today’s environment of technology, at first blush, this all seemed quite benign. We are all used to giving our mother’s maiden name, year of our father’s birth and or the elementary school we attended. Then it struck me. The questions asked by UPS involved facts that are from 30 years ago. Somewhere in cyber space, information of this personal nature is being stored and retained for who-knows-how-long and is readily and broadly available to a publicly-owned corporation. It raises the question: what other personal information is being stored, for how long and for whom?

It seems like a violation of the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution, providing the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures…” It can lead you to wonder if our Attorney General is missing the forest for the trees. That the American people are willing accept such an invasion of their privacy in exchange for knowing when the delivery of a package can be expected boggles my mind. Rights wither and disappear when they are not defended.

It is getting a bit George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, don’t you think?

Howard Ring lives in Riverdale. Point of View is a column open to all.

data security, Howard Ring

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