For a special treat this weekend, I have a book review on the 'Rise of
> the Computer State' which was published more than 23 years ago ...
> What about you readers?
Very simply, the biggest change has been the way computers so easily index and share information.
Sure a ton of information was collected and computerized for years. But digging it out and sharing it with 1980s technology was cumbersome. They had to pull off a file and dump it on mag tape and mail the tape in most cases. On-line systems were small and limited.
Today it's real easy to strip out data and email it and even publish it worldwide via net. Often data gets stolen and published (see article on Ohio data theft).
Likewise, it's real easy to index and search out stuff via the Internet. Court records are interlinked now.
Many people fear the "government" in this issue. Actually, there is much to fear, maybe more, from the private sector. The private sector NOW extensively uses your credit rating to decide whether you may get a job, insurance, and a place to live and how much you will pay for it. To me, that is wrong. Your credit history should be used solely to judge your credit risk, not employability, insurability, or rental.
Undoubtedly more private information will be available to the business world. If you have any kind of criminal past they may know about it.
The truth is we ALL have skeletons in our closet, many we forgot about. But maybe that incident back in college will come back to haunt you years later.
For example, maybe you want a job that requires clearance and they discover 20 years ago you were arrested for some major drug use. You had made a mistake long ago and never again, but now it is held against you. Maybe someone in your family did bad.
I could see some businesses uses adverse information to legally "blackmail" prospective applicants into getting less salarly or paying more interest or rent.
I think anyone who runs for political office or becomes an entertainer these days is crazy. Even if you seek a minor office, any dirt in your past will be dug up and used against you. Computers make it easier.
There are of course some laws protecting privacy and use of personal information. But it seems based on experience these laws are woefully inadequate to protect against sloppy security or secret data collection and usage. Again, what was once buried in an obscure file cabinet is now on the 'net for everyone to see, and that makes a big difference. For example, juvenile law violations are supposed to be secret but there are leaks. In the future, some stupid act could come out. (Recently some drunken kids did some pretty digusting things to a private house. I think they deserve punishment, but not be branded for the rest of their lives.)