Some US state motor vehicle bureaus have found an unacceptable new way of raising revenue.  They are selling the information given to the government to get a driver’s license —  your birthdate to your address etc — to third parties, including bail bond companies and private investigators.

We have a better idea for states looking to enhance the public purse: raise taxes on the wealthy! Higher tax levies on the wealthy don’t require any invasions of privacy and have an extra added benefit. They reduce the inequality that’s poisoning our future.   (Chuck Collins, Institute for Policy Studies Inequality. org) 

The loss of personal privacy that has accompanied the wired society is dismaying.  When the internet, and everything that goes with it, were introduced we all thought them exciting modern developments, full of promise.  And they were and are.  But why is is that a minority of people look at every innovation as an invitation to either enrich themselves or to use them for twisted, nefarious purposes?   And why, when we desperately need to trust those who govern us, and for whom we vote, are we betrayed by people with no common sense?

My never-to-be Epicurean government would make personal privacy second only to doing something quick, decisive and effective about the climate crisis.