The Privacy Dangers of a Cashless Society Were Clear Over 40 Years Ago

Some people really can seen into the future. 50 years ago this was already clear

In 1968, Paul Armer of the RAND Corporation testified in front of a U.S. Senate subcommittee about his concerns for privacy in the future.

[From

The Privacy Dangers of a Cashless Society Were Clear Over 40 Years Ago

]

snippet

snippet

The first is that computer technology is introducing order-of-magnitude reductions in the cost of collecting, transmitting, and processing information.

[From 

The Privacy Dangers of a Cashless Society Were Clear Over 40 Years Ago

]

snippet

snippet

Second, centralization of data is usually a concomitant of computer use. The payoff to successful snooping is much greater when all the facts are stored in one place. Though most of the data to complete a dossier on every citizen already exists in the hands of the government today, it is normally so dispersed that the cost of collecting it and assembling it would be very high.

[From 

The Privacy Dangers of a Cashless Society Were Clear Over 40 Years Ago

]

snippet

snippet

The third factor is that computer systems with remote terminals can permit, unless proper safeguards are provided, remote browsing through the data with a great deal of anonymity.

[From 

The Privacy Dangers of a Cashless Society Were Clear Over 40 Years Ago

]

snippet