Re: More to be paranoid about...

[jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>]

At 01:50 PM 8/4/96 -0700, Bill Stewart wrote:
>At 10:14 PM 8/3/96 -0700, you wrote:
>>Take a look at:
>>     http://www.spiritone.com/cgi-bin/plates
>>Feed it an Oregon licence plate number and it will feed you back all sorts
>>of info about the person/victim.
>
>It's interesting to know that Senator Hatfield's wife's birthday
>is 1/17/29, and that the title to the car is held with a 
>security interest by the US SENATE EMPLOYEES FEDERAL CREDIT,
>and that (at least) Social Security Numbers weren't listed
>for the plates I checked.  Also that, unlike many states,
>the Governor doesn't have License Plate #1.

It turns out that I am indirectly (two steps removed) responsible for this 
information being publicized on the 'net.  I bought a copy of a CDROM that 
included this data (from a person who bought this data from the State of 
Oregon on magtape), and a friend of mine got a copy from me and made a copy 
for his friend, who decided to put it on the web as an accessible item.

In any case, contrary to Alan Olsen's implication, I think that this kind of 
thing is a step forward for freedom.  Government agencies already have 
access to this kind of information whenever they want; it's only the 
individuals who don't.  Indeed (as my friend pointed out, correctly) this 
information is only considered valuable because not everyone has it.  Making 
this information available puts government-types under the same "gun" as the 
rest of us already were.  

It is now being seen that driver's licenses, while ostensibly merely being a 
certification that we know how to drive, are most useful to government as a 
way to "legitimately" collect information on us, including our address and 
age.  Since the function of credentialing is being implemented using 
encryption in ways to protect privacy, I suggest that we should push the 
government in that direction.  





Jim Bell
jimbell@pacifier.com