Sidestepping Intrusive Identity/Personal Information Demands...

Hi all,

I don't know about you but I'm getting tired of running into situations where tons of personal / identity information is demanded in order for me to get something or move forward with something.  It's out of control nowadays!   Things are becoming consolidated now, and everywhere you turn they want credit card numbers and tons of personal information that has nothing to do with whatever it is you're doing.  One recent example for me was car insurance.  We "need" car insurance because "it's the law"......yet it requires tons of personal information.  And sometimes a CREDIT CHECK.   Another one was the temp agencies I'm registered with.  They required a CRAPLOAD of personal information and personal / background / credit checks to even register.   Their reasoning?  "Because of 9/11....." said in fake hushed tones with a knowing nod.    Come on.  Please.   Cause you know, I look like your average terror suspect.     Anyway, I started a thread on a related topic to this, called "Personal Experience with Cash Free Coercion" - http://www.montalk.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=722   But I saw today that Ken Adachi, over at Educate-Yourself.org, has taken this frustration a step further....he's actually proposing solutions and trying to organize people to network!   Very cool.  This article has been up on his site since June, but I only visit the site on occasion so hadn't noticed it til today.  Thought his proposition and ideas were very cool and worth passing along and bringing attention to.   

Highlights from the article in question are as follows:
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Breaking Big Brother
Strategies for Regaining Independence, Freedom, and Privacy in America

By Ken Adachi
Editor@educate-yourself.org
June 22, 2004

....For instance, it is nearly impossible today to walk into a dentist or a doctor's office in America, get treatment, pay for it, and walk out. Unless you are prepared to reveal 1) your name, home address, telephone number, 2) your employer's name, address and telephone number, 3) your social security number, 4) your date of birth, 5) a photo ID (from government, military, or school)-which the assistant will insist on making a photocopy of, and 6) your complete medical history, you aren't going to be served. Even if you have a paid medical or dental insurance plan and present your insurance card, you will still be refused service unless you supply numbers 1-6 when you first visit that dental or medical office. Today, you will also be given a a multi page 'fact' sheet in most dental/medical offices which is often titled with words like "privacy rights" and you'll have to sign yet another form affirming that you were given, you have read, and you understood the information provided in the "privacy rights" form. The "privacy rights" fact sheet will inform that you no longer have any privacy rights and that the office will give away your medical records and 'personal' information to any law enforcement agency (local, state or federal), any governmental body (local, state or federal), or any other 'authorized' entities, who ask for it! Questions? No? Very good. "Have a seat and the doctor will call you when he's ready" she says with a cherry smile.

This same sort of coercion takes place with parents when it comes to school-required vaccinations, obtaining social security cards for infants in order to claim them for an exemption on your income tax, etc. You get the idea. You are treated like an indentured slave by a corporate feudal system, but because you are free to drive about in your car (assuming you have your state-granted "privilege" to drive, your driver's licence, your registration, and your insurance), you are made to think you are free, but you are not free. You are in bondage; you just can't see the chains. I just heard on the radio yesterday, that the Supreme Court voted 5-4 in favor of a law that says it is now a crime in America if you refuse to identify yourself to a policeman. You can now be arrested, indicted, and jailed for the 'crime' of remaining silent. Questions? No? Very good.

Numbers

There is an 800 pound gorilla standing in the corner of the room and no one is taking notice of him while we individually thrash about and ponder what to do to end this Orwellian nightmare. It's the sheer number of disgruntled and vexed Americans who are ready to be free of these coercive shackles that makes for a most powerful vehicle for change, but change can only begin to seed locally and expand regionally. Attempting to organize this effort on a national level is doomed before it begins because there are too many reactionary forces in place to shut it down. Locally, however, it can and will work. In fact, there are already many such independence-minded groups living and working in small communities around the world -free of the hassles, constrictions, and coercions of Big Brother.

Volunteers Needed

The purpose of this new section on my web site is to solicit ideas from readers and offer articles and networking links to web sites that offer real solutions to Big Brother's corporate hegemony. We need doctors and dentists, for example, who are willing to provide their services for patients who only want to provide their name, a mailing address, and a telephone number where they can be reached or a message can be left for them and NOTHING MORE in the way of personal identity or documentation. While I realize that being paid in full for services rendered is uppermost in the minds of most professionals, I'm convinced that cooperative and secure payment methods can be worked out between patient groups and doctors who understand the need to re-establish the rights of privacy and freedom for Americans that has been taken away from us by this corporate/government octopus. Of course, most doctors are paid by insurance companies and insurance companies are at the heart of the problem, but new collective groups can be formed of private citizens who wish to pool their funding resources and payment arrangements can be made with willing physicians. I also like the idea of allowing patients to take their records home with them (and yes, I realize that some people will lose them or spill spaghetti sauce on them, but we are talking about re-establishing freedoms here, including that freedom). When the Homeland Gestapo or FBI pull one of their infamous ninja style SWAT team raids on unarmed civilians at a doctor's office, wouldn't it be nice if there were no patient records there to be seized?

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For the complete article, click here:
http://educate-yourself.org/BBB/index.shtml

I can actually say I've lost sleep and had anxiety over the fact I relinquished in the end in many cases and gave out personal information that was nobody's business in order to "comply with the law" or in order "to get work."   It sucks.  I feel like I sold my soul to the devil.   There's no undoing what's already been given out, but I'm starting to put my foot down and wanting to find ways now to rebel and raise hell about this should I face it again in the future.