Now I believe our finances are monitored without permission

[Txjaybird]

I am not a happy camper!   A few months back while conversating with a man 20ys younger than I he basically stated that not only are all our cell calls monitored and that includes home phones, anything we put on the internet and all financial information is monitored and linked together.   I listened politely and thought surely things haven't come to that.  I also wondered at the time if paranoia is hereditary.

After today I believe he may be right.  I needed a copy of my SSA benefit letter and I had access to a "secure" computer.  I had to set up an account with SSA to access my information and the site stated it would ask me some questions and my answers would prove I'm me.  I'm thinking O.K.  Mothers maiden name, town I was born in etc.  Well we did some of that.  Then the "spooky" part started.......I was asked which of the following institutions had I recently received a credit card from....there was a list, and there it was, the name of my bank that issued the card.   I'm thinking "O.K. it's the same bank my SS benefits are deposited in so it's linked in some way".   I wasn't so understanding when the next question inquired about a "merchants card I received in Sept/2015.  And the place was on the list of possible answers.

Now can someone please tell me why the SSA has access to my credit information?  I see no valid reason for it.
 Years ago I purchased a book called "Bullet Proof Privacy" written by Boston T. Party and published by Javelin Press.  At the time I thought the author was a "little out there" regarding steps to take to maintain our privacy.   Now I think it was good advice at that time.  These days I 'm beginning to think there is no such thing as "privacy".  What ever happened to just taking care of yourself and family, helping others when you can, pay your bills, protect what belongs to you, and MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.  Maybe Papa had a reason for that 38 Iver Johnson under the pillow, I've never been clear on that. I can't help but wonder what he'd be carrying today. He was a very private person and we were raised that way.

As he used to say quite often and now I find myself echoing him 50ys after his death.
                            "I JUST DON"T KNOW WHAT THIS WORLD IS COMING TO"
                                   I'm not sure I want to know either......R.I.P. Papa
 Jewellann

 

[highdesertranger]

nothing on the internet is private. the man knows everything. might take him awhile to catch up but he will. highdesertranger

 

[Gunny]

All of your major search engines allow Govt. access, Google tried to fight it but gave up. Every key stroke you make is available to someone who wants to look at it.

I use TOR and onion for my search engine if I want a bit of anonymity. And even the "Deep Web " has been partially taken down. There is still all the usual suspect activity there but much harder to track thru five or six servers in different countries.

The list of what the Govt. does not know about you is tiny.

 

[wayne49]

I think this is using credit bureau service. The SSA maybe using an interface to a credit bureau that has the information and generates the questions with the multiple choice answers. The SSA may never know what questions were asked and the answers, just that the credit bureau reports if you know the correct information.
You haven't gotten one where it asks (Say your name is Marge Brennan) whether you are related to any of four different Brennan's in locations that are close to locations where you have lived. I was unsure, because I am not close to my extended family. I could have a cousin anywhere.
"Thieves Emporium", available from Amazon and others, is a fictional story that is a good technical introduction to the real issues surrounding privacy in a digital world.

 

[wayne49]

All of your major search engines allow Govt. access, Google tried to fight it but gave up. Every key stroke you make is available to someone who wants to look at it.

I use TOR and onion for my search engine if I want a bit of anonymity.

Google's resistance could have been for show.

An online tech journalist recently described a situation where as he typed in a word, but before he hit enter, an ad on the side changed to reflect what he was typing.

 

[WriterMs]

Okay... here is the paradox: If you want the convenience of doing things online, don't you WANT the Social Security site to be able to determine it is really you and not someone who is an identity thief? Of course. But then the site has to know some things NO one but you would know.

I'm not taking a particular side in this thread.. just pointing out a practical question.

Actually, if it were just the government, I personally would have less of an objection. Because any one of us is just one in millions and millions. But having worked in advertising and PR for a LONG career, I can remember when the idea of "data mining" customer purchases and preferences was a hot new idea. And every retail store or card or even insurance sends you privacy notices ... and most people never refuse to let them "share" information. And here we are with businesses and corporations now having more info on your habits and preferences than you are even aware of yourself.

Oh, if you'd like a fuller picture of what government can find, read any highly acclaimed mystery that bills itself as a "technology thriller." Of course, most of us don't mind that idea when the book's hero finds the terrorist or serial killer. We just don't want the hero to find us. LOL

 

[Gunny]

WriterMs, I don't mind the Govt. knowing about me, I had a top secret clearance for years and everything I had done in grade school was there, slight exaggeration but not much. I am still bound by the constraints of that clearance. But if I want to go see what the underbelly is up to I want to do it without a knock on the door.

I don't look at illegal porn (there's tons of there), check on the clearance price on illegal weaponry, I just like to see what's out there. Took me a while to figure out bitcoins and how to attain them.

As the OP wrote, nothing is secret. And as more govt. agencies connect it will get worse as they will share even more info.

Want to play in secret?

https://www.totalvpn.com/features

 

[mayble]

I don't worry about what information they have, only what they do with it.
I am resigned to the fact that "the man" has the ability to track my every movement.
I know, however, that I am one of millions and there is nothing about me to attract their attention.
I'm content to be a zebra, lost in the herd.  It's just not worth stressing over, in my opinion.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I have a friend my age..35 and another friend's Dad who both never used a computer, no email, no facebook, no technological nothing. Neither has ever take a loan out, used credit for anything. They both basically don't exist in this world because of it and I am sometimes envious of them. My friend's Dad doesn't even have a cell phone. He wanted to buy some land a few years back to hunt on and figured he'd go to the bank and get a loan, then denied him because he had no history of anything, they told him all the steps necessary to get credit, he basically told them to stuff it, paid cash for the land and continues to have zero record of his existence out there other than a birth certificate and social security card.
I like the convenience of doing everything online and I don't have anything to hide so on one hand I don't really care they keep a file of me, but then on the other hand this isn't what this country is supposed to be about, the founding fathers would be disgusted at what's being done behind all of our backs and the principle of it side of things pisses me off to no end.

 

[Patrick46]

this stuff gives me the creeps!!!

 

[ArtW]

The founding fathers would be disgusted with what goes on right in front of our faces
our govt' was never supposed to have the level of power over us it does

 

[Svenn]

We live in a police state.  It may be peaceful and economically prosperous, but it's still totalitarian.  The fact that the US was/is at the forefront of a few select 'freedoms' like speech and religion a couple hundred years ago doesn't obviate the fact that every other aspect of life is strictly regulated.  

I listened politely and thought surely things haven't come to that.  I also wondered at the time if paranoia is hereditary.

It's worse when you realize and become familiar with the type of people in gov't who are doing the oversight.  The 1950's image of "the man" as a calm calculating white guy in a suit is actually, in modern times, more likely an aggressive, insecure, politically/career ambitious, unthoughtful philistine; whether it be prosecutors, legislators, law enforcement, NSA, CIA, or any generic Fed.  

There's nothing paranoid about this, it's just realistic.  Blind patriotism and a schoolchild belief we're the 'land of the free' is arguably more paranoid.

 

[IanC]

Google's resistance could have been for show.

Google is beyond a conspiracy thiller writer's wildest dreams. Can you imagine any other entity that, way beyond just knowing your online activity, also has near global access to drive down any street with camera laden cars to film every residence? One writer made an interesting observation "if Hitler was running is campaign with this technology there wouldn't be a Jew alive today - he could find anyone ".

People may say "I have nothing to hide" but that's not the case everywhere. I often have Facebook messenger chats with my cousin , who lives in Zimbabwe. Even in a private chat she won't mention Mugabe's name, she won't discuss anything about the country other than the weather or wildlife - there is so much fear that somehow the government will be able to discern your political loyalty.

 

[Gunny]

My bank keeps track of my spending habits and offers investment advice and such. They label EVERY transaction and with a touch of a key I can get a pie chart of how my money was spent. If someone is naive enough to believe banks don't report earnings or anything else the govt. asks, they are in denial. The IRS and Social Security spend millions, if not billions. monitoring people's wealth.

I love my country and I love my freedom, but with each new law, be it gun control, either for or against, undeclared or clandestine actions against supposed enemies that cost us billions, we lose a bit of what our founders had in mind.

I am not political at all, but I defy anyone to tell me the two current candidates are the best we as a nation can come with.

 

[SoulRaven]

I came across this a couple of months ago. We have moved too many times to count and they wanted me to verify a zip code, a phone number, whether the ones listed were ever ours along with other questions. They also will give you false info to verify, just like when you go to get a credit report which when I called SSA to complain about the questions, she said I could get from the credit report and the answers would be there, wrong! I just gave up on it and wrote my congress man telling him what I thought of the system. Like, if someone wants to hack their system, this will stop it.

 

[gcal]

I am not a happy camper!   A few months back while conversating with a man 20ys younger than I he basically stated that not only are all our cell calls monitored and that includes home phones, anything we put on the internet and all financial information is monitored and linked together.   I listened politely and thought surely things haven't come to that.  I also wondered at the time if paranoia is hereditary.

After today I believe he may be right.  I needed a copy of my SSA benefit letter and I had access to a "secure" computer.  I had to set up an account with SSA to access my information and the site stated it would ask me some questions and my answers would prove I'm me.  I'm thinking O.K.  Mothers maiden name, town I was born in etc.  Well we did some of that.  Then the "spooky" part started.......I was asked which of the following institutions had I recently received a credit card from....there was a list, and there it was, the name of my bank that issued the card.   I'm thinking "O.K. it's the same bank my SS benefits are deposited in so it's linked in some way".   I wasn't so understanding when the next question inquired about a "merchants card I received in Sept/2015.  And the place was on the list of possible answers.

Now can someone please tell me why the SSA has access to my credit information?  I see no valid reason for it.
 Years ago I purchased a book called "Bullet Proof Privacy" written by Boston T. Party and published by Javelin Press.  At the time I thought the author was a "little out there" regarding steps to take to maintain our privacy.   Now I think it was good advice at that time.  These days I 'm beginning to think there is no such thing as "privacy".  What ever happened to just taking care of yourself and family, helping others when you can, pay your bills, protect what belongs to you,  and MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.  Maybe Papa had a reason for that 38 Iver Johnson under the pillow, I've never been clear on that.  I can't help but wonder what he'd be carrying today.  He was a very private person and we were raised that way.

As he used to say quite often and now I find myself echoing him 50ys after his death.
                            "I JUST DON"T KNOW WHAT THIS WORLD IS COMING TO"
                                   I'm not sure I want to know either......R.I.P. Papa
 Jewellann

No man ( or woman) is an island. Some of us are just too boring to look at.

 

[Queen]

We just took a trip, when we came back I sent in the amount to cover the credit card bill in full, since it was over $1000 my banks bill pay service popped up three verification questions. The first was a list of possible previous addresses, the next was previous employers (including one from over 20 years ago), and the third was possible professional licenses I held in the past (one was the license I had 30 years ago).

There truly is no privacy anymore. So I see it this way, either get comfortable with the fact "they" know everything about us, or try to ghost and recreate yourself off grid. For me, I'll just get used to big brother watching my boring ass life.

 

[IanC]

I just remembered this one - speaking of Google. A while back I was trying to get a good photo of the dog. None turned out so I didn't send them or post them . Then about a week later I got an email to my Gmail account - 'your pictues are ready'. There they were, attached to the email and they had never left my phone.

 

[GotSmart]

I just remembered this one - speaking of Google. A while back I was trying to get a good photo of the  dog. None turned out so I didn't send them or post them .  Then about a week later I got an email to my Gmail account - 'your pictues are ready'.  There they were, attached to the email and they had never left my phone.

Most phones are G~Mail enabled.  I just have my kids handle that.  There is an internal switch that can be turned off to stop this from happening again.

I needed a SS letter yesterday.  I went to the local office, and showed my DL.  It was printed off and away I went.