This is a good example of what we think as 'privacy'. You don't consider your phone number being private ( oh, and your other data sold along with it ), where as I do. Different countries, different definitions of what privacy is.
Actually, you're really proving my point.
If someone can look in a phone book and find your name, address, and/or phone book, then it isn't private.
If I decided to then take the phone book and create a list of all people whose names can be created using the letters "stella", then sold that list, I wouldn't be violating anyone's privacy.
I can't speak for other countries outside of the U.S., but it is common to have an unlisted phone number. Some phone companies charge for this, and some don't. Either way, if this was an option that you were presented and accepted, we'd be in agreement.
No, I'm basing my assertions on Canadian and British law ( and no, I don't like the mass of CCTV cameras in the UK - but I don't live there ). In recent years, Canadian law has beefed up data protection.
Sadly, we are losing all our privacy as technology progresses. Marketing companies will want more information about us, as will governments.
I disagree. I don't think you're losing privacy so much as various entities (marketing, government, etc.) have an easier time learning something about you.
There's nothing private about leaving your house, going to the grocery store, buying a box of condoms and a spatula, stopping at the video store, then coming home and drawing your shades. Anyone who wants to can (legally) follow you to those places, and see what you're doing. The fact that "they" aren't physically following you doesn't make what you do in public any more or less private.
The other side of this coin is that we're (collectively) more willing to tell people about ourselves, for entirely selfish reasons.
The local grocery store gave me a card, which entitles me to certain discounts. In exchange for the discounts, they want me to let them know exactly what I buy, when I buy it, and how I choose to pay for it. In a very real way, they're buying the information from me.
Certainly, this may not appeal to the condoms-and-spatulas crowd, but maybe I would like the store to know that I only like a certain brand of cola, and I prefer to use self-checkout lanes, and I always pay with an American Express card. Hopefully, they'll learn that to keep me coming back, they'll always keep Coke in stock, they'll add more self-checkout lanes, and they won't stop accepting American Express.
If a stranger with a clipboard were to ask me what I bought and how I paid for it, I'd probably ignore them. But don't confuse willingly "selling" personal information with people giving up imaginary rights they never had to begin with.
