"What are you hiding?" No, try "What are they trying to get away with?"

[c9]

The suggestion that customer name and address information is not sensitive information because it is the sort of info listed in a phone book misses the point. The sensitivity of the information depends on the context. Your name on a list of residents in a city is not particularly revealing, but your name on a list of people who are being treated for depression surely is. If police are looking for a customer's name and address, it's not because they're carrying out a census. It's because they think they have something nasty to connect that person to. And if they are looking for it without a warrant, it's because they don't have enough evidence to satisfy a judge or a justice of the peace. Or because they think constitutional rights to privacy are an inconvenience.
- http://ping.fm/UDj37

Comments

[oldgrover.livejournal.com]

I agree. Consider the case where someone is using the net to criticize the police or local government. There have been US cases where officials have abused this authority so they could identify their critic.

[bonoboboy.livejournal.com]

I first heard of this again through slashdot recently ... glad some Canadians are picking up on this!