I have as much privacy as a goldfish in a bowl.
[Princess Margaret]

When I started this blog three weeks ago, I did so as an experiment and learning experience. I saw it as a public journal of sorts and selected topics as they came to mind. Like Topsy, it just grew. I still intend to keep it general but today I’m on my soap box.

A couple of years ago, I was arrested, spent eight terrifying hours in the county lockup and was released without apology and without being told why it had all happened. After a sleepless night, I went into my Nancy-Drew mode and investigated the situation starting with the sheriff’s office. I discovered that a woman with a name similar to mine was in contempt of court for non-payment of a debt. Some law clerk did a sloppy job of research and put my name, address, social security number, etc. on the warrant. The clerk got that information from my land title company. It took six months and a trip to court to get my police record expunged.

Yesterday, a friend of mine sent an email with a link to a web site that publishes information about people. Not only were there a multitude of references to me but some of the information was in error and there were links to many other sites that offer similar information. It is a bottomless pit. If Princess Margaret were still alive, she’d notice that there are millions of other goldfish in the bowl.

If it weren’t for crooks, opportunists and incompetent law clerks, I wouldn’t care if I were living in a fish bowl. However, in the real world, this is a dangerous situation. I’m old enough to know that any sense of security is an illusion — there is no such thing as security but we still need to protect ourselves to the extent we are able. I haven’t the foggiest notion about what to do about this except to be aware that the situation exists.