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News from the USA's State of Washington via komonews.com!
The friendly government folks in King County, Washington, have been caught buying data on local shoppers and mining it to find the home addresses of freeloading scallywags who are likely to own a pet without also having purchased a matching permission slip.
This is one small example of how the big nose of government can end up in unpleasant, uncomfortable places when it is let off its leash. It is also an illustration of how any entity can target and locate people of specific demographics via purchase and exploitation of "private" bulk data derived from common customers' commerce.
I have a strong preference to use only cash for in-person transactions and refuse the use of so-called loyalty or discount cards, which should make such data mining much more difficult, particularly as the numbers of like-minded folks increase.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 06 2016, @06:51AM
So, dearest american, when are You going to form a militia to overthrow this police state? You do have guns to do so, what are You waiting for?
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 06 2016, @07:05AM
... "petty politicians, piss off!"
People in almost every country in the world are officially treated as owned property: do what the owners say, or ultimately risk execution. It is supposed to be different in the United States of America, as the current government was formed based not by the sword of a conquering tyrant, but with the delegated authority from individuals. An individual's authority does not increase in scope when people are more numerous (wrong for 1 person to mug another; still wrong for 1,000,000 muggers), and therefore the only authority US government has to enforce rules at gunpoint are no more than the same rules you as a lone individual can.
Anything beyond the scope of a single individual's authority is, at best, optional. If "optional" things are enforced at gunpoint, it is no different than if a member of, say, a Mexican drug gang was pointing a gun at you to obtain your obedience. You may choose to comply in an attempt to avoid being killed, or you may fight back against your assailant - you have the authority to do either as a lone individual. However, the best approach with violent criminals is to simply avoid them if at all possible: don't seek them out, don't associate with them, don't ask them for anything - in general, treat them as though they don't exist. Don't be a tempting target for criminals, either: don't leave your gold-plated big screen in the open window; don't leave loads of cash in an FDIC bank account.
Things are a lot simpler once an USian comes to realize that effectively all US government workers are criminals to a greater or lesser degree.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 06 2016, @05:03PM
While the situation has me mad, I'm not one for violent overthrow. I prefer the peaceful yet disruptive protests. Also, there is no specific thing to fight against, its all legal trickery for the most part and fighting will just make people think your a craaazy turrist.
So, dear wise and worldly person, what should we be doing?