October 19, 2006
Voting Privacy
If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm kind of a crusty curmudgeon when it comes to privacy. I've supplied a fake SSN numerous times on housing applications, given fake names and bogus SSNs to my utility companies (those that will accept fakes, anyway...it's amusing that SDG&E in San Diego does not check for valid name/SSN match [illegal immigrants?] and yet Niagara Mohawk in Canada does), and even purchased my co-op membership under a name other than mine. I've found it a bit disturbing, then, that several weeks after filing for an absentee ballot in Onondaga County, New York, I am now receiving advertising from political candidates on the roster at my absentee address.
Could it be that Onondaga County sold or even gave my temporary postal address to political candidates? This seems so backwards. I've been trying to rationalize how how Judge Popeo obtained my current address. Nothing aside from getting it from the absentee ballot system makes sense. If he obtained it from the County board of elections in this manner, is that right? Is it our election board's right to sell or even give this information away? I certainly saw nothing indicating that my signature was authorizing the retelling of my private information to a third party.
Maybe going to Toorcon a few weeks ago was a bad idea...
In any case, I decided to write Judge Popeo a letter:
Dear Judge Popeo -I recently received a flyer from you in my mailbox, and wanted to ask you some questions concerning your stance on personal information privacy.
I am a concerned citizen of New York State and I take privacy matters seriously. In the information age, information sharing seems to be a matter of fact between the government, the private sector, and NGOs alike.
I am interested in knowing your interpretation in any cases concerning information privacy (and sharing) in contracts between individuals and corporations, as well as any opinions on government (city, county, and state) use of their citizen's information -- who should be allowed to access the data, when, and in what manner.
It is difficult for an ordinary citizen such as myself to track down information on how you have ruled on cases of a particular nature, so any insight you could shed vis-a-vis where to look would be greatly appreciated.
Very respectfully,
Reid Wightman
I cannot wait to see what response I receive, if any.
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated 
by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007
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Zodiac
Zodiac touts itself as an 'eco-thriller,' and it is just that. Told from the first-person perspective of ST (or Sangamon Taylor), the book recounts a roughly six-month period of his life busting big corporations for violating environmental laws.
Not the tree-hugging political activist type, ST is equipped with chem labs, scuba divers, maps, and an organization (GEE International, the Group of Environmental Extremists) that masterfully brings the press into the fold to scare the public with the very real dangers posed by illegal dumping. It's sort of a Sierra Club member's wet dream -- a band of ecowarriors that actually get things done.
ST finds something odd happening in Boston Harbor during his tale: a new form of pollution that could poison everyone on the planet in a matter of weeks. His quest to uncover exactly who and what is causing the latest spike in toxins goes all the way up to the President of the United States, and could end up costing him his own life.
While a neat and fast-paced tale, the novel drags on a bit toward the end, begging disbelief from even the most forgiving sci-fi folk. While not as good as his latest offerings, it's still a great read for those that enjoy a good Stephenson novel (or even those who don't).
Rated 
by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
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Cat's Cradle
A few years ago, I attempted to woo an online datee, and she immediately criticized me for my politics. I protested the war on Iraq, which was "a shame." She defended her position of complete noninvolvement by standing behind Vonnegut.
It may seem odd to open a review that way. My assumption is now not that she was an idiot, but that she had only read Cat's Cradle, and only with a rather odd viewpoint.
Cat's Cradle looks at a cold-war world where the personifications of religious, political, and scientific single-mindedness collide to destroy the world.
Vonnegut tells a masterful tale, but it makes me wonder what one person's indifference would do to prevent us from all dying? So for now I will continue to unblindly stop unjust wars, even while I'm only reading.
Rated by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005