If passport files for folks like Obama, Clinton, and McCain are subject to casual (for fun? for political reasons?) unauthorized perusal by government employees, officials, contrators, whatever — in some cases the notification taking months to come to senior officials official attention — then why should we trust that any of our data will be “safe” or “secure” or “tamper-free” or “protected from unauthorized access”?
Any time someone makes those promises about a Big Government Database (be it passports, homeland security, medical records, whatever), remember that.
Not that such databases don’t have some value, or that we shouldn’t necessarily have them, or that we can’t work to minimize those risks. But unrealistic promises and iron-clad assurances and paternalistic head-patting should be laughed at any time provided. The risks are real, and should be addressed as such, not simply dismissed from the discussion and debate.