Congress wants to know your eBay buying habits

[dramama]

'Honey pot of private data would include Social Security numbers'

A freedom-focused grassroots organization has issued a nationwide alert about a plan in Congress that would require credit card companies, eBay, Amazon, Google and other companies to report what you buy to the federal government.

FreedomWorks chairman Dick Army said the privacy implications are "breathtaking."

"This is a provision with astonishing reach, and it was slipped into the bill just this week," he said. "Not only does it affect nearly every credit card transaction in America, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express, but the bill specifically targets payment systems like eBay's PayPal, Amazon and Google Checkout," he said.

FreedomWorks said the provision is "hidden deep in Sen. Christopher Dodd's 630-page Senate housing legislation." It was added by the bill's managers without debate and calls for a tracking and reporting system "on nearly every electronic transaction."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=67640

[MidwestMama]

I just got done reading that article. How scary. If someone really wanted to use the information subversively, I can just see it...

"Oh, they just ordered some homeschooling materials. Better forward that on to their department of education."

"Here are all the people that have purchased homesteading books. We'll have to search them now that we're on rationing and government control of food."

"Shipment of Bibles going there... need to send fines their way for posession of hate speech."

The possibilities are endless, really, which is exactly what they want... :ohno

Cris

[DavidNR]

Something seemed fishy... So I did a little web-searching. Nearly every site I checked (that only means about ten or so) quoted the exact same snippet as WND. The one that started opening my eyes, though, was this site: http://mrmortgage.ml-implode.com/2008/06/21/bofa-perhaps-countrywide-wrote-dodd-shelby-bailout-this-news-must-get-out-there/.

It looks to me like this: if a citizen accepts a mortgage bailout from the US Government, there is a cost. And a big part of that cost is that you are now under the magnifying glass because there are certain economic qualifiers to receiving the bailout. That is, if you have the financial means, you shouldn't be getting a bailout. And how can the government tell if you've got the economic means? By tracking your purchases. This is all similar to welfare recipients, public housing, college loan recipients, et al, being held to certain asset limits.

Controversial? Perhaps. Fair, I say yes. The reason is that any bailouts or handouts or subsidies, etc. are easy pickings for fraud. I, too, have a mortgage, and at tax time, I look forward to deducting mortgage interest from my taxable income. However, I have to disclose EVERYTHING pertinent in order to claim that deduction. I can always choose not to take the deduction and perhaps keep some extra privacy; the choice is mine, always. I found this site useful as well: http://theeprovocateur.blogspot.com/2008/06/updated-summary-of-corruption-at.html

[denny272]

I just got done reading that article. How scary. If someone really wanted to use the information subversively, I can just see it...

"Oh, they just ordered some homeschooling materials. Better forward that on to their department of education."

"Here are all the people that have purchased homesteading books. We'll have to search them now that we're on rationing and government control of food."

"Shipment of Bibles going there... need to send fines their way for posession of hate speech."

The possibilities are endless, really, which is exactly what they want... :ohno

Cris

Dear Lord, surely you will come soon! :faint That's exactly what they're going to do. :panic

[twinkle]

Well...I want to know Congress' buying habits...:heh

(Congress; you tell me first, I dare ya!)

[frodo82801]

While this is bad, this is nothing. People have been living under much worse conditions all through history. Something like this would be just the start. If we're really on the way down, it'll get much, much worse than this.

Just wait until every purchase is registered against carbon credits.

[Rondaben]

While this is bad, this is nothing. People have been living under much worse conditions all through history. Something like this would be just the start. If we're really on the way down, it'll get much, much worse than this.

Just wait until every purchase is registered against carbon credits.

Hope you don't buy anything that may be considered subversive. Gitmo is hot this time of year.

[similitude]

A freedom-focused grassroots organization has issued a nationwide alert about a plan in Congress that would require credit card companies, eBay, Amazon, Google and other companies to report what you buy to the federal government.

If this is true, this is disturbing.

[Speckled Dove]

If this is true, this is disturbing.


It sure is. Big brother is watching and now has all the information at their fingertips. I had read about Google moving in this direction. The concern of course is that Google stores and saves everyone's search's. This can then be turned over. Now what is disturbing is that they can use this information however they choose to, coupled with people's buying habits from Ebay, etc., Well there goes our privacy out the window. In the hands of the wrong individuals it is very alarming. :thinking

[similitude]

The concern of course is that Google stores and saves everyone's search's. This can then be turned over. Now what is disturbing is that they can use this information however they choose to, coupled with people's buying habits from Ebay, etc.

Yes, and now that Google has bought Youtube, the same goes for youtube videos. Every video watched, along with the IP associated with it, is recorded and logged, and simply a subpoena away from being made public.

Some companies are doing worse than that. Whereas Google at least requires a subpoena, some companies turn over information simply if law enforcement requests it.