>I never give my name and address on any purchase
>that isn't delivered.  I work hard all day and feel no need to carry my
work
>around with me in a PDA or cell phone when I leave in the evening.  I
>suspect most of the data collected is harmless and used for inane, if
>annoying, purposes.  But there is no guarantee and I can see no good reason
>to help someone swell the database that defines my profile whether it's
>harmless or not.


I went to pick up a Pitza a few days ago.
I paid cash.
They asked me for my name.
Then they asked for my telephone number. I told them it was none of their
business but I also asked why. They explained that they had a new system to
allow reordering as per last order, complaint tracking etc. No doubt also
building a sales profile but they didn't mention that. I gave them my
number. My Pitza buying isn't going to make them rich but now the
authorities will know where the Pitza bomb came from. .

>Whether I'm a terrorist, a pervert, or just another gray face in the crowd
>is my business.  And I intend to keep it that way.


That's fine as long as your gray face activities don't infringe on the
freedoms of others. As long as all gray face afficionados indeed did keep it
their own business it would be OK. Given that 2 out of 3 of the above
activities (and possibly no 3 as well ? :-) ) are in fact NOT by definition
solely the business of the doers by ANYONE's standards *, makes them fair
game for being tracked. Part of the freedom to live in any society (be it
home of the brave or Serbia or ...)  lies in balancing our rights against
the rights of all the other freedom seekers. But then, of course, you know
that :-)

I'll tolerate a degree (but only a degree) of limitation of my freedoms to
keep the terrorists at least partially at bay. I do seem to see a lot of
gray faces around of late (that was GRAY, wasn't it) though so maybe the
system isn't working as well as it ought.


RM.

* - Terrorism by definition is the act of inflicting unwelcome attention on
others.
Perverts can arguably act in a vacuum but as the term is often used it
reflects an activity similar in nature and intent to terrorism.
Dunno about gray faces.

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