The lack of clarity itself is enough to make it look sinister. Lack of disclosure to the customer? I would certainly want it, but whether I can expect it seems to depend on regulation. The mortgage industry post 9/11 was ordered to collect a lot more identification information, but at the same time the disclosure forms were updated to disclose it. In that case the collection's done out in the open.
Companies are motivated to collect and analyze personal information for reasons other than government investigations, and when it's for business strategic reasons, there's generally a motive to keep quiet about it for competitive reasons. It's all sinister to somebody who values his privacy, but there's sinister and then there's Sinister.
People never learn about that impulse to secrecy. You asked specifically how I'd feel if I find out that it's being done secretly, and that does make it much worse. Better to disclose, take the heat if people complain, and be grateful that you can simply change your policy instead of getting your ass sued and your stock pounded when people feel betrayed. Businesses always underestimate the value of trust until they lose it.
Current Events » in reply to Here is something interesting - good or bad?
Hard to say
The whole thread (69 posts)
- The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans
- Here is something interesting - good or bad?
- re: The New York Times article from last December
- HIgh crimes and misdemeanors
- Brace for spin
- Tens of millions of Americans?