Can I Have My SSN Back?

Identity Theft JJ & Special K (CC Licensed)

I like to think I'm protective of my sensitive personal info. I rip bills and credit card offers into confetti before throwing them out, I never give out my Social Security number, and I can spot a phishing scheme with the best of them. But I've recently come to realize that the safeguarding of my most intimate personal details is completely out of my hands.

This rather foregone epiphany dawned on me recently after I received a letter in the mail from a former employer offering me a year of free credit protection. The gift of an incredibly generous HR department? No. This was my consolation prize for having my Social Security number and street address stolen when some thieves made off with company computers.

Being exposed to the threat of identity theft through the carelessness of a former employer got me thinking: Who else out there has the goods on me, and what say do I have in all of this? The answer, of course, is that my personal information is being collected, stored and used in more places than I care to think about. As for my rights to that info -- well, I have none.

This needs to change.

I don't think I'm blowing anyone's mind when I say that information about all of us is being gathered, aggregated, and analyzed with nearly every step we take, both online and off. I'm not paranoid -- this is a fact of life. Whether it's at the supermarket, passing through a tollbooth, using our cell phones, or checking our email, notes are being taken down about our locations, our habits, our preferences, and our relationships to people, places, and things. That's the price we pay for modern conveniences, and I've accepted the tradeoff. I could fly under the radar by always paying cash, never using a cell phone, staying off the Internet, and having my bills sent to a P.O. box, but I can't be bothered.

In many cases the information being gathered on me makes my life easier -- Amazon.com being the very best example of this. I love my Wish List, I find the recommendations to be fairly accurate (most of the time), and I like that little sidebar that reminds me of the things I've recently viewed.

But what happens when I no longer want Amazon to keep tabs on me? Or what if I want to have a peek at that internal profile with my name on it? I asked Amazon these questions and was pointed toward the site's privacy policy. Fair enough -- I think everyone should read the privacy policies of every site they visit, including this one. Most sites are very forthcoming about the information they gather on you and what they do with it. But Amazon's privacy policy still didn't answer my questions. What if, fearing another computer theft, I want my personal information erased from Amazon servers? Or what if Amazon is bought out by another company and I don't want my personal info going along for the ride? What if I don't even want to delete my info, but I just want to see it, and maybe remove a couple of embarrassing purchases? I haven't heard back from Amazon reps at the time of this writing, but I'm pretty sure the answer would be a politely worded, "Hell no."

I'm sure it's the same over at Google, where my extensive history of Web searches -- no matter how freaky -- is directly linked to my name and other information, thanks to my Gmail account. What if I decide one day that I'm done with Google -- can I take that information with me? Can I have my emails deleted from the Google system? Of course not.