Re: [Off-Topic] "Curfews"

[Brendon Macaraeg <bqm1808@is.nyu.edu>]

hi Tim and all:

Been lurking on this list for about a month
and find it really interesting. I'm still working
my way through the FAQ from the talk.politics.crypto
newsgroup to get up to speed, but have been
using PGP for about six months now.
I've been toying with starting an anon-remailer
as well....that Quickremail program looks
cool...anyone install and run it yet?

I think Tim's post relates to the idea
that we're living in a society that finds
it acceptable to monitor our movement
of all sorts. Not just physical, but --for lack of
a better word-- virtual as
well. By that I mean, organizations both
large and small have the means to track
our purchases and activities --generally, any
activity that is logged or leaves a data/paper trail
says something about us and creates a virtual
persona-- and using
such info. to make inferrences about
our lifestyles. 

Just the other day I had a heated talk
with someone about drug tests in the workplace.
She said they're fine. Frankly, I am against them. 
Take your jar and shove it. "Life, Liberty, and 
the Pursuit of Happiness" implies a right
to privacy.  That's why I started using PGP
and want to make an effort to keep up on 
topics related to keeping my life private
and shielded from those who would like otherwise.

What will employers want to know
next? What movies I rent? What books and magazines
I read? What else do I do on my freetime that
may or may not be "unacceptable"?
I  worry that our personal lives are becoming
more and more regulated by government,
regulation that allows employers and other
institutions to rationalize their privacy-invading actions
and that's why I too find Clinton's push for 
a state-instituted curfew disturbing as well.
What next? Will my employer start telling me
I have to be home by 11 p.m. so I can be
a happier, more productive worker?

-B



At 07:08 PM 5/31/96 -0700, you wrote:
 
>
>As I said, should such curfews become widespread, children will of course
>need forms of age identification, and this opens yet another door for
>universal I.D. cards. And for "travel papers."
>
>Maybe it would be easier to just put a tattoo on their arms--especially as
>the younger generation is so into tattoos these days. "Pappieren, bitte.
>Macht schnell!"
> >
=====================================================
                                    Brendon Macaraeg
               http://www.itp.tsoa.nyu.edu/~brendonm 
    Finger macaragb@acf2.nyu.edu for my PGP Public Key