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Is your personal information really safe with governments and private businesses?

Results so far:

Yes
10% 15 votes Total: 143 votes
No
90% 128 votes

The reason why personal information would not be safe with government and private businesses has more to do with lack of accountability than process or experience. Simply put, the people who work for the government have historically held to a standard of lacking accountability for personal misdeeds. In the cases involving identity theft that have stemmed from gross negligence of government workers, there has been little to no actual emphasis on protecting the people who will become the victims; instead the emphasis has been to avoid blame and to put forth a "it happens all the time, so don't worry about it" attitude.

A few years ago, a government contractor lost a laptop with the personal information of veterans who have served in the US military. The "accountability" response from the Administration of Veterans Affairs was to send out a letter stating there was a breach of information, and they didn't think anything bad would happen because of it, and if something bad did happen, please let them know.

That is not accountability, but unfortunately that is how a government responds in an atmosphere where everyone avoids blame and no one seeks responsibility.

So, no, your personal information will not be safe with governments and private businesses. The government is comprised of people who are looking out for themselves while businesses are comprised of people who serve to bring profit to the company for whom they work. Neither entity is concerned about any type of responsibility to the rest of us, and anything that purports to be that is simply lip service. History is the marker in this game, and historically there hasn't been a whole lot of positive behavior to indicate anything in the future will be any better.

Learn more about this author, Duane Gundrum.
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Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Is your personal information really safe with governments and private businesses?

No
  • 1 of 18

    by B Smith

    It interesting to note that yesterday, Tuesday, February 19th 2008, there was an article posted on the "yes" side and that

    read more

  • by Margaret Wilson

    We have our information out there for anyone to see and steal. I am not the security conscious person I should be and have

    read more

Yes
  • 1 of 1

    by Feargal Halligan

    I'd like to chime in on the other side of this debate by simply offering a rational perspective to the ideas of privacy

    read more

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