I know it has been a while since the scandal broke, and yet I hadn't blogged about the Department of Veterans Affairs data theft. In general, I've been a bit pissed off and did not feel like talking about the issue in a detached and mature fashion. I guess I can be a big boy about it now and give it a brief mention.
As we are both veterans, my wife and I recently received our letters from Secretary R. James Nicholson (forwarded via the IRS) regarding the avoidable and completely unnecessary data theft. I've uploaded Nicholson's letter to my website for those veterans who may not have received a copy.
The letter and a short FAQ from the VA is attached here.
And yeah, I'm still a bit pissed. Of course, my only recourse is to watch my credit reports like a hawk – and hope that the thief has no clue what he/she has on their hands.
People (usually naive College Republican types) always ask me why I oppose domestic surveillance and other forms of government data collection. Well young Biff, the obvious reason is that it is an invasion of our privacy, in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and could be easily put to nefarious use by those in power. Further, if the government can't control the legitimately collected amounts of basic data in its possession, why should I trust it with building massive databases of personal infomation?
Grrr.