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Enjoying Technology's Conveniences But Not Escaping Its Watchful Eyes
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Over the long run, Bernard has saved hours by using her Smart Tag, with its RFID chip, to zip through tollbooths.
The Virginia Department of Transportation records the date and time she passed, the toll location, the amount paid and her customer account information. The FBI has used this type of information to help solve murder cases, and private attorneys have used it in divorce cases.
As she passes, two cameras record her -- one in front of her car and one in back.
2:10 p.m.
Bernard enters Costco. She wheels her cart to a cashier and uses her Costco membership card, linked to an American Express card, to buy bottled drinks and bagged candy.
She likes the credit voucher she will get at year's end, worth 1 percent of her total purchases, thanks to her Costco membership.
Costco likes its database of 50 million shoppers' purchase histories, e-mail addresses and phone numbers, which it can use to notify consumers of a product recall or do marketing research. Bernard's credit card companies know her income and her shopping habits. They can share her information with affiliates without her permission and need not stop even if she asks them to.
Credit bureaus maintain gigantic databases on consumers such as Bernard fed by tens of thousands of banks, auto lenders, credit card issuers, state welfare agencies, utility companies and court records.
3:25 p.m.
Bernard visits BestBuy.com to look for a CD case.
Best Buy receives good ratings from customers on privacy, according to the Ponemon Institute, a privacy research group. But online retailers in general are a prime target for people who call the retailer pretending to be a customer to obtain passwords and other personal information that they then use to access online bank accounts. This practice, known as pretexting, is also done by fly-by-night data brokers who collect and sell phone numbers and other personal data.
4:15 p.m.
