Who s Looking Over Your Shoulder? by John Willoughby

Privacy has been a concern for us humans ever since the first tribe started building individual huts, giving the occupants shelter as well as personal space. And individual privacy has been violated since the first person started peeking in the window of that first hut, curious about what might be going on inside that was so interesting that it required privacy from the rest of the tribe. Over the years we have discovered more ways to protect privacy and, hand in hand, more ways to violate privacy. We close shades to keep out peepers but don't know if someone has planted a micro camera in the room. We close the door to make a private phone call, but don't know if someone is listening to the phone line.

Traditionally we have worried about people with nefarious intent spying on us. A blackmailer, a private detective, a foreign government, our own government these are the people and organizations that we have worried about in the past. Ones that are specifically targeting us because we are doing something of interest to them. If we are doing nothing interesting, we don't have to worry about them, do we?

But now all that has changed. Big Brother is still spying on us, true, but even with all the fancy eavesdropping equipment that we learn about from people like Edward Snowden there is only so much that they can do. And in the end, the information they collect is only available to them. For the US government do be a worry they first need to be actively spying on you, and then they need to decide that what you are doing warrants them getting involved (like by arresting you). Sure, I'd prefer that they not listen to my phone calls but other than driving 70 in a 60 MPH zone ( just for example naturally I would never actually do such a thing) I really haven't been doing much lately that would give them reason to be interested in me. The one I worry about is not Big Brother, but rather Little Brother.

The term Little Brother was first coined in a New York Times article published in 2010. Or at least so I've read, and it must be true because I read it on the internet, right? I could probably research that but it seems like too much work so we'll just assume that's correct. Anyway, the point of the article was that we no longer need to worry about Big Brother invading our privacy. It's the lady in the caf with the smart phone who thinks the way I drink my Latte is funny and decides to share it on Youtube. It's the friend who thinks the autocorrect error on a text message is so funny that they just have to post it on Instagram and then Tweet about it. With my name on it. It's everyone around me who, thanks to the smartphone, is carrying around a camera 24/7 with the ability to instantly share with the world any social transgression, any humorous error in my ways, any private moment for any reason.

And there is a third category of potential privacy abuses: companies. Each day it becomes easier and easier to collect and store information on customers. Couple this with a drive for companies to personalize their interaction with each customer, which relies on collecting and storing information about them, and there is more information about you than ever before being collected and stored by companies you do business with or even look at. And this, at least, is an area you can do something about. You can't control what the government does, and you can't control what the guy sitting across from you on the bus does. But you can impact what businesses do with your information.

Having personal information is not always a bad thing. Thanks to Google, if I have to see ads on the pages I surf at least they are increasingly about things I might actually be interested in. A little creepy, yes, but still something that improves my experience. If I have to get bombarded with junk mail in my mailbox before Christmas, at least if can be for products that I might actually want. The issue comes in when these companies sell my information or worse, let it get out accidentally. Selling information is at least usually spelled out in a privacy policy. But theft of information who knows when that can happen? And this is where we need to insist that if we are going to give a company our personal information that they take proper precautions.

Despite the occasional notice I get about my credit card information having been potentially hacked from one company or another, most companies are pretty diligent about computer security. Leaving your computer systems vulnerable invites not just theft of information but total disruption of business. Unfortunately, many companies do not give the same level of attention to paper-based information. The focus is increasingly on electronic information, but there is still a huge amount of personal information that is printed out on forms, reports, communication, etc. This information needs to be treated with the same respect and concern.

You can't stop the government, or the people around you, but you can ask a business whether they shred all of their documents or just drop them in a recycling bin. If they want your business, tell them that they need to treat your information with confidence and that includes a comprehensive shredding program. Or take your business elsewhere. That part of your life you do still have control over.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2013/service-lines/secure-shredding/whos...
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