Jul 22, 2019
Craig is on with Jack Heath this Monday morning. Jack and I discussed the government profiting from your private information and the dangers of a cashless society.
These and more tech tips, news, and updates visit - CraigPeterson.com
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Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.
Airing date: 07/22/2019
Governments that Profit from your Private Personal Information and the Drawbacks and Dangers of a Cashless Society
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Craig Peterson
Good morning, everybody. Craig Peterson here. Thanks for joining me
again here on the podcast. I like that our numbers are coming up. I
appreciate everybody who's made a comment and given me a five-star
review over there on iTunes, they are great and very much
appreciated. Again, thanks for listening to the podcasts.
I was going through the news and collecting articles, which I do a couple of times a day trying to keep up on everything. I don't know if you've seen what Elon Musk is working on and his latest little bit of technology. It is a computer chip that he wants to implant in your brain. Now we've heard about these types of things for many, many years. However, this is from a startup. I am not sure if he funded it, but it was part of his little empire and is called Neurolink. The goal is to implant a tiny sensor in your brain. And you, by the way, using a robot to do it. Then these sensors will pick up brainwaves so that a person with quadriplegia can control a smartphone or other computer device. It is quite cool technology. They founded the company back in 2016. They've already done some testing with a wired version of the implant in rats. They also did it with a monkey who was able to control a computer with just thought. That I think, is a very cool thing. We'll see how it goes. Ultimately, as I said, a lot of people have talked about this forever, and there have been many, many attempts to try and do it with varying levels of success, I have to say, but it's not new. It could be very, very good, and just being able to send a text message by thinking is a huge step. I cannot imagine being locked in a box as a brain in a quadriplegic body. It's just incredible. So we'll keep an eye on that as time goes on. This morning I was on with Mr. Jack Heath, and we talked about how the US is moving towards a cashless society and why it doesn't make sense. Just look at what we've learned from a Hong Kong protesters out there. Florida's DMV is selling personal information. Is that a good idea? To who are they selling? I compare with what New Hampshire used to do what we're doing now under the new federal laws. So, here we go with Mr. Jack Heath.
Jack Heath
Back on this Monday morning at Craig Peterson, our tech talk guy
that joins us live at the AutoFair listener lines and Craig you
have some interesting stories on your docket this morning. One is
about the Florida DMV, and people's license information that might
be out there in the market, as they say, and also the significance
of the Hong Kong protest and it's connection to technology. Good
morning.
Craig Peterson
Good morning. Yeah, absolutely. You know, one of the things I loved
about what New Hampshire did for so many years is with your
driver's license, you had the option to prevent them from keeping
your picture and not allow them to print your social security
number on the card and, and keep all that information out of their
databases. I am concerned about two things. First of all, the
attribution quote about why did Willie Sutton robbed banks, because
that's where the money was. Well, that's the same thing when it
comes to these massive databases that governments and some
businesses maintain, and also the amount of data many companies
collect. So having that information in the database the state has
the bad guys can potentially hack is always concerned me? And then
of course, there's the concern about what why would you want to why
would you want to even collect data that you did not absolutely
need, and that's good advice for businesses as well because if you
have a lot of data, this kicking around, it gets stolen, you can be
in big trouble.
Now. This story, Jack, you brought up down in Florida, the DMV. They have been collecting this information for years. By the way, New Hampshire is now being forced to comply with a federal mandate that came out and requiring us to collect this information. But, Florida DMV is selling the information that they've been collecting on their drivers and ID card holders, to over 30 private companies. It includes bill collectors, data brokers, marketing firms, insurance companies, and Florida's made more than $77 million and selling this data. I think it's very concerning!
Jack Heath
That leads to my next question, how much they get paid for it?
Yeah, you answered the question.
Craig Peterson
Yeah, it's $77 million, and that is not a small amount. However,
for the Florida DMV, it's a barely a drop in the bucket. In
Florida, the DMV can legally sell the driver and ID cardholder
information, and there's no way for Florida residents to opt-out.
Now NH is collecting this information, and you no longer have the
option of not having your photo or some of this other information
collected here in New Hampshire. I don't think we have the ability
to opt-out, either. If the state decides to sell our data. We know
that the FBI and other federal government agencies have been
combing state databases nationwide, their DMV records, and have
been using that for facial recognition. I'm concerned about that
one as well. So, there's a lot of dangers there.
Jack Heath
Interesting. Let's get to Hong Kong, yeah. Yeah. Tell me because
you know, that we continue to see these pretty massive
protests.
Craig Peterson
Yeah, it's I think this is also quite concerning. Again, you know,
that we've had the Treasury for many decades here in the United
States and we've minted coin and printed paper money. Going back to
medieval days and before, if you forged a coin, it was considered
an attack on the king, and you received the worst punishment
possible against you. Forgery has, especially with currencies, long
been a big problem. Now we've got companies out there, like our
friends over at Facebook. They are getting together with other
companies, including some financial companies, and they are trying
to come up with their own version of cryptocurrency. Well, Hong
Kong has something called an octopus card. And this octopus card
provides for a completely cashless society. The same thing is true
in China, as well. They have something called WeChat. And that's a
social media and messaging service that allows them to use that to
pay as a primary payment method. These protesters in Hong Kong do
not use octopus cards. They're only using cash. When it's time to
go and protest against the government because it's just too easy to
be tracked. So, now I'm looking at WeChat in China, Jack and it's
gotten so bad over there, that if you J-walk, they again, they've
got the database of the photos, they have the computers, they
automatically debit you. Your E payment card no longer works to
even get on a train to get to work unless you obey every law over
there. So again, it's concerning. It is what we can expect with a
cashless society. It represents yet another risk. What happens if a
president you don't like becomes president and starts trying to do
some of these things? The same thing is true with Congress when it
is taken over by parties that you don't like. We certainly have a
lot of protests right now against President Trump. However, this
really could give a crazy power to the government.
Jack Heath
All right, good stuff, abstract but good stuff this morning. Thank
you, Craig, at least on the latter half. Thank you, Craig. Craig
Peterson, our tech talk every Monday. Thank you, Craig. Appreciate
it.
Craig Peterson
Take care. Bye-Bye.
Jack Heath
All right. Paul Steinhauser.
Craig Peterson
Hey, thanks to everybody who's listening to this morning appearance
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