All kinds of ways to give up your private information
I got one of those letters from Saint Mary's—you know, the one saying "Oops. Several months ago someone got hold of records we had on you and we are just getting around to letting you know. Maybe you ought to think about putting a fraud alert on your credit record. Here's an 800 number. Hope your identity hasn't been stolen while we were trying to avoid notifying you. Have a nice life."
I was surprised to realize I wasn't freaking out. You know why? I'm getting jaded because it's happening so often. Mr. Ann got one of those letters from Arlington Clinical last spring ("Geez, our pharmacist was carrying patient files around in her car and someone broke into it several months ago, etc."). We dutifully put a fraud alert on his credit file. We were supposed to be able to get a free credit report because of the fraud alert, but none of the options for that worked. When the fraud alert was automatically lifted after 3 months we got a regular free credit report and didn't find any problems.
Like many others, I still haven't figured out why I was in the Saint Mary's database. I've never signed up for a class there or gotten a vaccination through its system. I used the emergency room once 10 or so years ago, but patients supposedly don't go into the database. At least the database that got hacked. I contacted Saint Mary's about a job a couple of years ago but didn't follow through because the HR department demanded I come by for a "pre-interview" before they would even accept an application from me. The letter did inform me my Social Security number was not in the records that were accessed by the hacker, which is another reason I'm not too concerned.
I'm still annoyed about the database, though. It contains 128,000 names, all supposedly compiled without using hospital records. Gary Aldax, Saint Mary's marketing manager, told the RGJ, "Say you were at Scolari's during flu season to get a shot, you usually fill out a form and that gets added to the database." In other words, you want a flu shot, you fork over your personal information for our database. Or, you want to take this class, give us fodder for our database. Only they don't even tell you that's the deal.
As much as I cherish my privacy, it's impossible to function in modern society without giving up personal information. Mr. Ann had some outpatient surgery at Reno Orthopedic Surgery Center the other day, and one of the many things they asked for was a phone number and an alternate phone number for me. He's not as skeptical as I am, so he obediently gave them my cell phone number. When I protested that I didn't even have my phone with me (I almost never carry it) and I would be staying there until he was ready to go home, they said they just needed it for their records. So now my cell phone number is in their database just because Mr. Ann needed surgery there.
Several years ago my father spent a few months in Life Care of Reno, a rehab hospital and nursing home, and I foolishly gave them my cell phone number in case of emergency. My dad has been admitted there twice since then. I have not given them my cell phone number since his first stay, but they keep calling it! I have asked various people there to take it out of their records and they say they will, but they keep calling it! In fact, they keep giving it to related medical providers, and they keep calling it!
You can't turn around without bumping into someone offering you something free in exchange for personal information. Most of us know that filling out tickets for the free prizes at convention booths will result in a sales call, and maybe you're willing to get junk mail from grocery stores in return for giving them your information so you can join their discount clubs. Do you mind getting more spam in return for signing up for grocery coupons on line? Have you noticed there is no logical reason to fill out and mail in registration cards for electronics and appliances? And a lot of them have the nerve to require you to pay the postage! Why do you think every cash register receipt you get now offers the chance of winning a prize in return for calling an 800 number or visiting a Web site to give your opinion? Do you think they want your opinion or your information? Lowe's won't let you complete a transaction at the automatic checkout until you provide a phone number! I could go on and on.
I try to avoid as much of it as I can, but Mr. Ann doesn't question things the way I do and I'm not always around to stop him. But when people ask me for my cell phone number, I just tell them I don't have one.
I was surprised to realize I wasn't freaking out. You know why? I'm getting jaded because it's happening so often. Mr. Ann got one of those letters from Arlington Clinical last spring ("Geez, our pharmacist was carrying patient files around in her car and someone broke into it several months ago, etc."). We dutifully put a fraud alert on his credit file. We were supposed to be able to get a free credit report because of the fraud alert, but none of the options for that worked. When the fraud alert was automatically lifted after 3 months we got a regular free credit report and didn't find any problems.
Like many others, I still haven't figured out why I was in the Saint Mary's database. I've never signed up for a class there or gotten a vaccination through its system. I used the emergency room once 10 or so years ago, but patients supposedly don't go into the database. At least the database that got hacked. I contacted Saint Mary's about a job a couple of years ago but didn't follow through because the HR department demanded I come by for a "pre-interview" before they would even accept an application from me. The letter did inform me my Social Security number was not in the records that were accessed by the hacker, which is another reason I'm not too concerned.
I'm still annoyed about the database, though. It contains 128,000 names, all supposedly compiled without using hospital records. Gary Aldax, Saint Mary's marketing manager, told the RGJ, "Say you were at Scolari's during flu season to get a shot, you usually fill out a form and that gets added to the database." In other words, you want a flu shot, you fork over your personal information for our database. Or, you want to take this class, give us fodder for our database. Only they don't even tell you that's the deal.
As much as I cherish my privacy, it's impossible to function in modern society without giving up personal information. Mr. Ann had some outpatient surgery at Reno Orthopedic Surgery Center the other day, and one of the many things they asked for was a phone number and an alternate phone number for me. He's not as skeptical as I am, so he obediently gave them my cell phone number. When I protested that I didn't even have my phone with me (I almost never carry it) and I would be staying there until he was ready to go home, they said they just needed it for their records. So now my cell phone number is in their database just because Mr. Ann needed surgery there.
Several years ago my father spent a few months in Life Care of Reno, a rehab hospital and nursing home, and I foolishly gave them my cell phone number in case of emergency. My dad has been admitted there twice since then. I have not given them my cell phone number since his first stay, but they keep calling it! I have asked various people there to take it out of their records and they say they will, but they keep calling it! In fact, they keep giving it to related medical providers, and they keep calling it!
You can't turn around without bumping into someone offering you something free in exchange for personal information. Most of us know that filling out tickets for the free prizes at convention booths will result in a sales call, and maybe you're willing to get junk mail from grocery stores in return for giving them your information so you can join their discount clubs. Do you mind getting more spam in return for signing up for grocery coupons on line? Have you noticed there is no logical reason to fill out and mail in registration cards for electronics and appliances? And a lot of them have the nerve to require you to pay the postage! Why do you think every cash register receipt you get now offers the chance of winning a prize in return for calling an 800 number or visiting a Web site to give your opinion? Do you think they want your opinion or your information? Lowe's won't let you complete a transaction at the automatic checkout until you provide a phone number! I could go on and on.
I try to avoid as much of it as I can, but Mr. Ann doesn't question things the way I do and I'm not always around to stop him. But when people ask me for my cell phone number, I just tell them I don't have one.
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