So I read this post on Slash about Vista phoning home and I just couldn't help to think how much these people really miss the reality of their world. Since computers started phoning home and web-sites started collecting marketing data people have screamed “what about my privacy?” Now everyone from Google to the Government is sending warm and fuzzy statements about protecting your privacy, but it's pure bullshit.

Let's play hypothetical and have a baby to see how this all plays out. I am American so I will just base this in the U.S., but it should be very similar elsewhere, maybe even worse.

The first piece of data collected on you is you birth. Knowing you exist is the most important piece of information there is. Now that the baby is here we have now registered him like a piece of property with the government. Yes this helps if you ever lose your baby and need a receipt...

Next, every doctors visit is recorded. “My health data is private because there is a law” you say. Bullshit! When you enroll your child into daycare and/or school the first thing they ask for is shot records and if there are any medical issues they need to be aware of. Alright, actually it's money, but shot records are the second thing. The third thing is your contact information, payment information, and any court information, if it applies (custody, etc...), and a social security number if you already got it. You as a parent just voluntarily recorded your child's, and your own, information to both school as well as the doctor's office.

Some parents do this early, but you typically get one by the time you're eighteen – the Social Security Card. Now, not only are you in existence and have a medical history, but now you have a tracking number that trumps your birth certificate for the rest of your life. How is that? Well, the Social Security office tracks your employment history, which includes income, home addresses, retirement, tax information, and some financial information - your entire life! Your birth certificate just says, it's you, maybe...

All through school you're tracked and entered into databases. As a matter of fact, you yourself provide some of that information when you apply for college – your high school verifies it so no bad apples trick their way into college tuitions that don't deserve higher education. You do have the choice to not go to school where you get logged into another kind of database, the police truancy database! We will continue with our child being a good and upstanding citizen so no need to worry about all that police stuff, yet.

Ah, sweet sixteen is here and all the kid wants to do is drive! Get that birth certificate and social security card ready and feed some really good stuff into the system. Now you have a pretty plastic card with a second tracking number and your pretty little picture. A drivers license, or state id, contains your personal data also including driving points, restrictions, address history, etc. This can be accessed by the police or anyone with a reader. If you ever got gas and the attendant asked to swiped your drivers license – this happened to me – they are verifying you identity. I assume a card reported stolen or faked would pop up a “do not sell this person coffee” flag.

So our teen passed his driving test and is now a licensed driver. We want to add him to our insurance, which is the law, so he is now in yet another database. Insurance companies really like records, and they will look at your personal information often.

Now a couple of things are likely to happen, but not guaranteed, we hope not for our teens sake. Traffic violation or accident. Now you are recorded not only by the police and your insurance company, but also the BMV and the Court system (these would be public records anyone can access).

The boy is becoming a man and in his quest for adulthood gets a job after school. He opens a bank account and starts spending his own money. There is no escape now sucker! Now you are being tracked and have given your information to the Tax department(s), your employer, and the bank. At this point you are 95% traceable and are leaving a nice paper trail, there are only a couple missing pieces of data that make you totally not private.

The final pieces are nearly set. You turn eighteen and register for the draft. Now the military has a record. Your building your credit history, applied for a loan so you can buy your first new car. You get an apartment, and you vote. You are 100% traceable by the government, corporate America, and even the con artists. There will never be any part of your life that is private again, not even your death.

If you ever had a parent pass you may remember the million scammers that call and send mail trying to make a buck. I actually got ripped by a similar type of scam when my first wife and I got married. I got the “change your name with social security” scams like crazy and was stupid, well lazy, enough to get ripped by one. Sending a parent into a retirement home gets equal attention as well... Be warned if you haven't already seen it...

Everything you do will be viewed, stored, collated, evaluated, and even monitored. Most of the time the usage of this data will be by marketers to see what people are buying, Playskool knows how many parents searched for their toys on Google, as well as verifying financial history, but the government will use your private information to build up statistics. This does include your precious personal medical records.

Honestly, do you really believe the government got statistics on sexually transmitted disease in youth by going to all the schools and asking? Come on! But, it is there... How many teens do you know will answer that honestly? They would have to get parental permission to ask for that private information anyway and that makes it even less likely the child would be honest. The government has to monitor medical data for other reasons also, like the CDC keeping an eye on possible epidemics. Trust me, someone looks at that data without your permission.

There is big money is selling personal information, just ask the credit bureau(s), your bank, any company you do business with or wish to be employed by. Ever magically get credit card offers filling up your mailbox after making a big credit purchase or canceling a credit card account? They bought your personal information - looked at your credit history, your buying habits over a period of time, and most likely even searched court records. Yes employers are now buying this information including financial histories and can determine someone not fit for employment just because they suck at handling their personal finances. Employers, and I will assume others like the government, pay companies to find and monitor their employees personal blogs and other on-line postings. Yet another record some willingly put into the collection pot. Here is an example of this... How about this ?

If you are really concerned about you privacy, Microsoft sending your computer hardware specs and installed software listing really should be the least of your concerns. Knowing what Google and your ISP can and are collecting is more interesting, but if you worry about those things you are obviously breaking some law or need psychological counseling for paranoia. The fact is they already know everything about you and can even watch you live via street cams or satellite if they wanted to do so. You will never have privacy so get over it. Just remember, you are not interesting unless you make yourself interesting and really consider what they collect and how it can come back to bite you in the ass later. It may not be illegal to download music now, but you can bet you are being recorded, and it could become illegal later. That makes you interesting to someone at that time.

If you ever wondered just how visible you are to just about anyone go here: http://www.intelius.com/

and type in your name and state.