THE LIFEBOAT STRATEGY. Mark Nestmann
paper form, but now, more often than not, in the form of a book entry on the electronic ledger of a bank or broker.
The characteristics that make intangible forms of wealth attractive for financial transactions also make them vulnerable. Tangible assets are much harder to deal with: real estate is immobile and relatively illiquid; animals and crops must be maintained. Intangible wealth is both more mobile and often much more liquid than tangible wealth. In the event of a legal dispute, these characteristics make it much more attractive to potential creditors.
Because intangible wealth is often represented by nothing more than blips on a computer screen, its custodians have developed elaborate systems to track it. In the United States, information about these holdings can become public in many ways: lawsuit, divorce, data sharing between companies, etc. Investigators, the IRS, and many other government agencies can often learn what intangible wealth you have, and where you keep it, without going to court.
Privacy for Sale
Wealthy people can afford to place legal and financial obstacles in the path of any would-be privacy invader. They can place their assets in offshore entities and do business through corporate vehicles that shield their identity. If they choose to do so, they can live as expatriates in countries that have less developed surveillance infrastructures. By leaving bookkeeping details to trusted attorneys, they can live practically anonymous lives.
The poor also lead relatively private lives, especially if they refuse government assistance. Undocumented immigrants and homeless street persons aren’t likely to file income tax returns or show up on Facebook. Their lives may be a desperate battle against privation and despair. But it’s a more private existence than most middle-class residents of the United States have.
Most likely, you fall somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. Your public image resides in thousands of government and corporate databases. Credit bureaus, banks, tax authorities, administrators of social benefit programs, educational institutions, and perhaps the military and criminal justice system all contain snapshots of your life. Tracking begins while you’re still in the womb, and continues until well after your death.
What Records Do “They” Keep on You?
Only a century ago, most people were known only by their name and occupation. Official records of your great-grandparents’ existence, for instance, were likely limited to birth records, baptismal records, death records, census records, the purchase of a home, and perhaps the payment of property tax. Even this information was generally filed and forgotten, because of the considerable expense involved in paying clerks to organize it.
These so-called “public” records were, until a few years ago, retrievable only with a visit to the local courthouse. As technology progressed, the costs for governments and corporations to use the information gathered on private citizens rapidly decreased. The invention of the typewriter in the mid-1800s and the use of “punched cards” (Hollerith cards) throughout the 19th century reduced the costs of compiling and organizing information. But it was the development of the digital computer in the 20th century that made it practical to collect, store, collate and distribute data on a truly massive scale. Today, marketing and data mining companies compile these records in ever-greater detail, and make them available over the Internet.
The information exodus from the filing cabinet to the data bank has blurred the boundary between public and private information. Computers excel at analyzing information that individuals willingly share in order to obtain credit, go to work, receive welfare benefits, or purchase insurance coverage. Most of this information was once considered private, as were the conclusions banks, insurance companies, etc. reached after analyzing it.
This information is no longer private; a result not only of technological innovation, but also of laws that were never designed for the information age. Data mining software can cross-reference information residing in computers to create an amazingly detailed portrait of your wealth, your religious beliefs, and your lifestyle.
Public records now available online include:
• Voter registration records.
• Marriage license records.
• Building and occupancy permits.
• Business licenses.
• Workers compensation information.
• Property tax records.
• Medical records.
• Criminal records (including arrest records).
• County fire marshal records.
• Utility company records.
• Real estate property records.
• Lawsuit filings (including information from discovery proceedings).
• Divorce records.
• State tax cases.
• Professional licensing boards.
• Bankruptcy records.
• Corporate registration records.
• Probate records.
• Telephone bills.
In addition to these public records, most private companies maintain records of the transactions you make with them. In most cases, these companies may use these records as they see fit; you don’t own them.
When you open a bank account, order a pizza, donate to a charity, register a product for a warranty, sign up for a “shopper’s card” at a grocery store, collect a rebate, or order information out of a catalog, the information you disclose (although not your credit card number) may be shared. In some states, even records of your medical prescriptions may be shared. The implications of this data sharing are described further in Chapter 2 (see data mining).
Who’s Watching You?
Surveillance of personal, business, or political rivals has existed since the dawn of mankind. But technology to make remote surveillance possible only arrived in the mid-19th century. Devices that could monitor telegraph signals quickly followed the invention of the telegraph. Both sides in the Civil War used wiretaps, and, when the telephone was invented in the 1870s, surveillance spread to this technology as well.
Remote listening devices that could be planted anywhere were also perfected, and by the early 1950s, the development of the transistor accelerated miniaturization. “Bugs” were invented that could be planted in cufflinks, tie clasps and, as every James Bond fan realizes, even martini olives.44
Today, electronic surveillance has matured to the point where a camera the size of a pinhead can provide both a visual and audio record of your activities. Digital cable boxes monitor the viewing habits of television audiences. Conventions display technological wizardry devoted to the latest developments in electronic surveillance.
Privacy isn’t extinct, but technology has made it an endangered species.
Where Did Privacy Go?
The “global surveillance infrastructure” this book documents threatens your privacy and wealth in a variety of ways. Let’s look at some recent trends…
It’s Easy to Find Out Where You Live
The consequences of having the wrong person know where you live can be dangerous. Even if