I agree, but it would be insanely naive to think this wasn’t already happening. The US government can’t help itself - it has shown time and item again it feels the need to surveil its citizens. This underscores the importance of preserving basic privacy-enabling technologies such as end to end encryption.
We so very gravely need legislation and technical capability to thwart this level of warrant-less invasion of privacy. If we're going to play by the rules (laws), then let's play by them and demand they show cause for violating the 4th amendment. Having business do the collecting and then using your regulatory power as a bargaining chip to get information on "individuals of interest" is the same as directly invading the citizen's privacy themselves, just with extra steps.
(EDIT above: fixed typo)
Strict data subject, Right to be Forgotten, metadata, and identity rights need to be established. Ideally, businesses should be held liable for how the data they collect is used, fully. Indiscriminate and dragnet-style surveillance information needs to be so strictly regulated that nobody actually wants to hold onto it, and the punishments for business and government need to be steep when a data subject's rights are breached.
We can get rid of credit bureaus while we're at it. Them, HIPAA, and the DMV are the three most reliable sources of identity information, and it's trivial to get it. The government needs to follow its own OPSEC guidelines and protect its people's records.
Sadly, it will take some crazy combination of circumstances, and a few dead rich people, before our society will notice or care. We're already stupid enough to pay for multiple subscriptions to streaming services and overpaying for food.
I don't mind credit bureaus as they ostensibly have a function.
However, the current model is so anti-consumer, it's not funny. EVERYTHING is tilted away from the consumer, the consumer technically has a right to dispute, but the process is a waste of your time most often, and magically, financial entities get to charge much higher rates when your credit isn't perfect.
Pay everything, and I mean, every. single. thing. on time, every time, for 3 decades. Get shafted by 1 business and that business slaps a collections on your report, -100 points, instantly, because fuck you.
Yeah, it is. But, the recipient also has to be running an encrypted Jabber client.
I have signal—I've ported over my existing phone number to JMP.Chat to call and text outside of Signal. Not a lot of my contacts use it.
Additionally, gets me away from the big carrier networks.
