If you’re a regular reader of this Journal, you know that, lately, there have been a whole lot of stories that have raised red flags for privacy advocates.

One of the newest is something that people are just now learning about the “Obamacare” health-care law that the U.S. Congress passed several months ago.

It turns out that the provisions of that law will violate patient confidentiality.

And will risk the [more...]

The controversy continues, over Facebook’s recently announced new features.

Those who can’t wait to participate in every new Zuckerbergian idea, will happily turn a blind eye and deaf ear to any criticisms, and will believe only what the company tells them are the new features’ advantages. (Update: Here’s one already.)

While those who value their privacy will point out that [more...]

A few days ago, Microsoft announced a new standard for booting Windows 8 computers in the future.

The UEFI standard would be built into the BIOS of new computers that run Windows 8, allowing them to boot very quickly, while protecting them from rootkits and other malware that attempts to corrupt the boot process.

In theory, that sounds like [more...]

Would it bother you if, without a court order, someone could track your exact location at all times?

And they could treat you as if you were a criminal, just because you happened to stand near a criminal at some point?

What if, without a search warrant, they could record your private conversations [more...]

Would it be allright with you if your employer tracked your location at all times when you’re at work?

What if they tracked your location whenever you’re driving a company car?

What if they did it when you’re not at work?

And when you’re [more...]

Do you remember Jeff Foxworthy’s comedy routine, “You might be a redneck if…”?

Actually, like fellow one-joke comic, Yakov Smirnoff, Foxworthy’s shtick was a lot more than a routine — it was pretty much his entire claim to fame, until he became the host of the equally intelligent game show, “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” — a show whose original title was “Look How Stupid Adults Are, Compared To Little Kids!” [more...]

In the beginning, only large, powerful corporations owned computers.

And they completely controlled their employees’ access to both computing power and the data that was created.

Then came the “PC Revolution” in the 1970s.

Suddenly, individuals could [more...]

Would it bother you to learn that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has partnered with Google, the search company, to allow the company to help the government agency spy on people?

To be perfectly honest, we highly suspect, but don’t know for sure, that such a relationship exists.

Because, at this point in time, [more...]