Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!rex!ukma!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!abvax!iccgcc!herrickd
From: herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Citizens of the City of Mind
Message-ID: <3912.27e9027b@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>
Date: 21 Mar 91 23:59:06 GMT
References: <7259@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> <1204@airs.UUCP> <3622.27d4c133@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> <1991Mar11.070712.4223@cs.ucla.edu> <3778.27dd2150@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> <7197@ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Lines: 57

In article <7197@ecs.soton.ac.uk>, etj90 (Khaos the Binary Warlock) writes:
> In <3778.27dd2150@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com (daniel lance herrick) writes:
>>In article <1991Mar11.070712.4223@cs.ucla.edu>, gast@lanai.cs.ucla.edu (David Gast) writes:
>>You freely gave information that is valuable and Equifax is selling
>>it as the agent of the person you gave it to or as their own agent.
>>dan herrick
> 
> So how does one avoid giving this info?

In another post, my response boiled down to "pay cash".  There I listed 
two or three specific strategies.

Here, develop a paranoid attitude.  If someone asks for information,
decide whether you want to release the data before answering.

If a wrong number comes in and the calling party asks "Who is this?",
I answer "Who did you call?"  If I don't like the answer, I tell them
"Well, you did not reach them."

Back to Equifax, your address is in the phone book.  The county registrar
of deeds holds as public information the assessed valuation and amount
of tax on the property at that address.  The Equifax/Lotus database did
not connect these data, it only offered a neighborhood average 
income/lifestyle estimate.

Abolish the property tax as a way of paying for government.  Otherwise
local government will continue to have the lifestyle data available.
Of course, there are other sources for such data - such as asking 
prices of houses for sale.

Another approach - don't ever use your residence address for
- publication in a phone or other directory
- subscribing to a magazine
- buying by mail order
- registering an automobile
the list goes on.  You can move a lot of this to a poBox.

When the representative of Haines comes around asking questions to get
the data right in the "City Directory", they find me quite frustrating.
They want information for their purposes, not mine.  I try to not be
helpful.  Unfortunately, my wife is less obnoxious than I and they
keep coming around, year after year.

When the Catholic Diocese comes asking questions for their "census",
I am curmudgeonly and uncooperative.

The other poster that I answered spoke of "denial of service".  Information
is part of their asking price.  Don't pay.  If they won't sell without
the information, don't buy.

decide how private you want to be, and then teach your spouse and children
to not cross the line.  You can break many of the information connections
without giving up the advantages of our society.  Real privacy requires
an unacceptable lifestyle.

dan herrick
herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com