 | |||
|
|||
<< Back to "Your Voice" Archive“YOUR VOICE”Privacy of Personal Information and Identity Theft We live in the information age. This wasn’t the case for most of us in our youth. In the past, information access was sparse. Now in is ubiquitous. We have allowed control over our personal information to get out of hand and it is time to rein it in. Identity theft is the result of information access. Identity theft can ruin your life if you get caught up in the web of information lawlessness that is all around us. If someone steals your identity, your credit card or bank information or your social security number, they can destroy your assets and your credit rating overnight. It might take years to recover. And this is happening to thousands of citizens every day, often to our elderly citizens. It is of course our own responsibility to protect ourselves and our information, but private and governmental requests for our personal information make that exceedingly difficult. A good example is your social security number. It has only one justifiable use and that is to identify your income sources to the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration. There is no reason for that number to appear on any other document, account, driver’s license, or any other place where it could be stolen. But, increasingly, we are being solicited for more information from public associations. No one has the right to pry into our private lives. This is one of our most basic fundamental rights as Americans. It is vital that we reverse the current trends toward governmental intrusion into our privacy through the excuse of seeking out internal enemies. Terrorism is a reality. Terrorists are enemies of all free peoples. But we must concentrate our attention on our enemies, not upon our faithful who are suffering because of the need to wage a continuing “war on terrorism.” It is the obligation of our Representatives to defend and protect our basic rights to privacy. This oversight will be a major part of my attention in Congress. Cast your vote this November for open and honest representation. Write-In:
|
|||
|