On Monday, I commented about the time stamp of a Facebook entry being used to establish an alibi for Rodney Bradford, who was accused of committing a crime 12 miles away. I also questioned if this was symptomatic of a creeping lack of privacy.
On Monday, John Van Doorn of the North County Times newspaper wrote of a local woman who had her California license revoked because she failed to pay a 27 year old Illinois speeding ticket. So, in its simplest form, the California DMV computer revoked her license because the Illinois computer said the woman owed the Illinois DMV $59. For the record, she was traveling 43 in a 35 mph zone at the time she was ticketed and is now trying to figure out how and where to pay her 27 year old ticket.
While Van Doorn makes the same points I did in regards to the amount of information that is out there about each one of us, I think he did a better job of raising the privacy issue than I did. Yes, technology proved that Bradford didn’t commit a crime while proving that a local woman did (however minor the crime might be in the eyes of some). It also proved that there is no statute of limitations to the availability of information in the “collective.”
So I guess now might be a good time for me to return that book I borrowed from the Pensacola Library about 20 years ago. After all, I don’t want the satellites talking about me when it comes time for me to renew my license.