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Government using pizza delivery databases

Cheap. Easy. Cruel.

20:20 / 27.04.04

Here is an article on how the state of Missouri is using pizza delivery databases to find people who owe them money. I find the whole thing smacks of Big Brother. I really would like to find out which chains are volunteering their databases so I could use fake names with them.

Cheap. Easy. Cruel.

15:34 / 28.04.04

I was wondering about the legality of this. Is there some sort of implied consent clause that makes this legal? Is this legal because it is information given freely to another party? I suppose that they don't have to keep you information private, as would the medical industry.

More to the point, should the privacy laws be changed to make this illegal? Should they be, would it hamper corporations?

Scanner Vainly

23:06 / 29.04.04

I've read about similar government/political party databases compiled from multiple public domain sources, which can be used to solicit money. I believe even Moveon.org uses this method. How can we outlaw the use of publically avaliable data, or even its centralization?

Perhaps the key is to keep this information from being released in the first place. But I don't understand what interest a pizza delivery service has in keeping long-term logs.

Cheap. Easy. Cruel.

02:17 / 30.04.04

It is not that they keep long term logs, more that the company that is doing the search on behalf of the government is actively mining their current databases. Although, there is one company I had not ordered from in over a year; when I called them the other day, they were able to give me my address and name based on my phone number. The premise is that you are likely to give an accurate address and phone number, based on your desire to eat the pizza you just ordered.

Yes, my thoughts were more on keeping the information private in the first place. I had never thought about all of the times I give out personal information during the day. Unless that personal information is given to a medical provider, there is no guarantee it will stay with the entity one provides it to.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

09:53 / 30.04.04

Well, why shouldn't the Government use the means at their disposal to track down people who have broken the social contract and owe the state money?

Cheap. Easy. Cruel.

13:37 / 30.04.04

I am not thrilled about the breach of privacy, real or imagined. Social contract or no, the transaction is one of simply ordering a meal. The information one provides a service provider should stay with that provider unless one gives their express consent to have it released.

Jacrafter

16:07 / 30.04.04

The use of private companies in law enforcement is the most troubling aspect of this. They can't be held accountable at the polls. Outsourcing government functions is a very bad idea. When you put the profit motive in, you take civil rights out.

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