If you agree select NO . . .

For every action we witness there are a myriad of motives that our meaning making mind likes to attribute.  I seem to be in a sensitive place lately as I watch other people’s actions and realize perhaps for the first time the depth of darkness that is behind their decision making process.  Of course I realize all of it is simply a story, theirs, mine and the non-local mind too that likes to spin this web we each find ourselves entangled within.

Everyone has an agenda.  Sometimes hidden in the obscurity of their outward action or masked by the façade  which covers their true face.  Sometimes of course we are simply fishing, “do these pants make my butt look fat” which is harmless of course until the wrong response is returned.  But at the macro level of ulterior motivational campaigns the shrewd tactics of corporate consciousness  can be down right dangerous to even the illusion of trust that we may have had at one time in our pre-web youth.

Of course I could pull an example from the political races and get on my soap box to talk about the bold face lies that pass for politics as usual but that get super-sized during any election year, or the collection agency that has my daughter confused with a dead beat dregs who she must somehow resemble in one of her data snapshots that would be just cause for Walmart to refuse her return of a night stand that she purchased for her new apartment.  It really doesn’t matter what story or thread that I pull upon, because its all just data bits.  Data bytes.  Binary tidbits that define our reality and extent of our existential existence.

However, my favorite bank that will as always remain nameless as a stray dog who likes to CHASE its tail, sent me a snail mail letter saying there was important information about my right to security and privacy.  As we use to say in IT … security through obscurity would be more like it.

I read the letter carefully, because I know in my tired and often pain-filled body I can miss the point as my eyes skim the words and translate back to my dyslexic brain.  But what struck me was the small print that mentioned I should select NO if I wanted to keep my privacy intact.  Select NO, if you agree.  Hmmmm…. reminded me of the twisted words on the old Prop 8 initiative that had voters kerpuzzeled if yes meant no or no meant yes?

I went to the website listed by the bank where I could cast my vote for how I wanted my privacy information maintained.  It was paper mail, so I had to TYPE in the VERY LONG URL by hand.  That’s the first place you will loose people.  If there is a chance for a typo you can be sure a phishing site has grabbed the domain and is ready to take your login credentials.

Right off the bat my trusted institution, where I already have a secure account and password, wants me to come in thru this “back door” and provide them with the credit card number that they issued to me PLUS my social security number.  Seriously?!  I looked at the URL a dozen times to make SURE I had typed the right address.  Why would MY BANK want to have me enter this information again?

But it was the right site.  This was the mechanism they opted to use in order for me to PROTECT MY PRIVACY AND SECURITY INFORMATION.

Okay.  Next screen .. here’s the prop 8 section of the plan …

First we have THREE clearly marked options to select from at the top of the page.  And it HELPS us by saying that we can select ANY or ALL of the three choices.  Well isn’t that grand like an all-you-can-eat buffet for a Jenny Craig meeting .. the MISSING OPTION was of course NONE you can select NONE of the choices below.

But the three selections sounded so good … they each started with the word PLEASE.  Awe.  That’s cool.  Please LIMIT … EVEN BETTER!  I like the way that starts … Please limit the sharing of my personal information.  Well DANG  that’s what I want!!  YES.  YES.  YES.  Please LIMIT the SHARING of my PERSONAL information.  Sign me up for that!  I’d be inclined to check all THREE.  Who wouldn’t?

I wonder how many people did?  How many people didn’t see the near fine print .. in much smaller and non-bold font that begins with the words “Additional privacy preferences for California residents.”  Well gosh, isn’t that nice of them to add these additional options for us out here in LaLa land.  Apparently us Californites are the only ones who received the option for PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY INFORMATION …

These two important bullets at the bottom are the two that MUST be checked if you SAY NO to having your personal information shared with every dot-bog out there.

PHEW!  Dodged a byte there by catching that.  I confidently checked NO to the bottom two “privacy preferences” leaving the top ones BLANK only to see the next screen pop up that informs me …

My privacy preference update is complete and that it will take FOUR to SIX WEEKS before my opt out option goes into effect.  WHAT?!  What computer system takes four to six weeks to update their data bank?  I’m pretty sure the pony express could have gotten the word out across the new frontier faster than my financial instution’s new privacy sub-routine.

So for the next month my financial information will be floating aimlessly around much like the wallmart shopper who is impersonating my daughter’s credit profile.

When someone WANTS something … they will use every trick in the book to lull you into a false sense of security so that they can pull the rug out from under you and you land on your butt that looks fat in those pants you were wearing anyway.

But when you are ready to see things as they really are, behind the mask of emotions and notions of no harm intended . . . then perhaps you can wiggle out of the chains you didn’t even know where holding your hands behind your back.