PrivacyFilter: Can you think of examples of offline anti-data mining behavior? We can encrypt our activities, use Tor, etc., online, but how do people try to stymie data mining in daily life? I'm thinking of groups sharing a "loyalty card" (like these guys) to break up the patterns of their shopping habits, and putting incorrect information into surveys and forms to make things harder to correlate (in theory), tack-in-the-shoe style. Other examples? (And, if you know more about data mining, do these methods actually accomplish anything?)
posted by finnb on Oct 15, 2009 - 23 answers

After looking everywhere and which a way, I am at a loss. I am looking for a short story with a near future high tech anarchy as background-- something that resembles David Brin's concept of The Transparent Society, Utopian Version, where every body knows everybody else's business--as opposed to, say, Police Surveillance State On Steroids Big Time where Big Brother knows your business and location as in 1984 meets The Minority Report. [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Mar 10, 2009 - 11 answers

Can I patent a sandwich? I may have just invented the best sandwich ever, and before I reveal the recipe I want to know it's safe from those would attempt to misuse it's power for evil. [more inside]
posted by Dillonlikescookies on Jun 21, 2008 - 44 answers

Relaying potentially 'subversive' information to a friend in China via email. How can I best go about it? Would IM be better? [more inside]
posted by dawson on Mar 18, 2008 - 12 answers

Major news outlets agreed to keep Prince Harry's deployment to Afghanistan secret for security reasons; Dick Cheney's hunting accident was kept from the media for at least a day... What are other examples of these government & media secret/blackout practices?
posted by MrBCID on Feb 29, 2008 - 27 answers

My employer is going to be asking me to sign a new NDA in the near future. The original NDA that I signed nine years ago has a lot of holes. Anything in particular I should look out for in the new NDA? Should I be concerned about it at all? (Yeah, I know YANAL.)
posted by maurice on Jan 23, 2004 - 11 answers