Privacy at the heart of NSA revelations

The cat’s out of the bag. The genie’s out of the bottle. The sweater I can’t afford is at Nordstrom. It’s a Kate Spade cardigan.

I mention this not because it matters, but because I might as well. It’s out there, the fact that I liked a $198 “sea glass” blue sweater enough to click on it while browsing the Internet.

The other night I was checking a few websites. I was on Facebook, where I most like to see pictures of my grandson. I glanced at a couple of newspaper sites. And, although I’m trying to break a clothes-buying habit, I looked at the Nordstrom site — where I saw this blue sweater.

So the next evening, there was the Nordstrom logo smack on my Facebook “Home” page, along with a picture of the exact sweater I looked at the night before.

The Nordstrom ad wasn’t on the side where Facebook stacks advertising. It was mixed in with pictures of pets and kids, links and observations and other updates posted by my friends and relatives.

Obviously we’re targeted by advertisers. I still get email from an Arizona hotel where I stayed years ago for a nephew’s wedding. With a wallet full of supermarket “advantage” and “rewards” cards, I have traded in my name and other information for grocery discounts. Amazon and Barnes &Noble know from my buying habits that I like literary fiction and biographies. I’m not a huge fan of spy novels, although I am currently riveted by a real-life spying saga.

The whole country is caught up this week in a big conversation about privacy — whether it’s the government keeping tabs on our phone calls or retailers using our Facebook pages to try to sell us stuff.

One may seem silly. The other is monumental. One reveals a consumer’s taste in clothing, the other may be stepping on our constitutional rights to privacy, free speech and association. Apples and oranges? Maybe, but it’s all unsettling.

The Guardian, a British news organization, was first to reveal a secret surveillance program by the National Security Agency that reportedly tracks Americans’ phone use. Edward J. Snowden, a former CIA worker employed by a government contractor until being fired this week, has identified himself as The Guardian’s source of leaks about the program.

A separate U.S. government program that taps into Internet usage, called PRISM, has also been unveiled by The Washington Post and The Guardian. The Internet spy program, according to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, is authorized in the USA Patriot Act.

Always a magnet for strong opinions, the Patriot Act was first enacted in 2001 as a tool to keep us safe from terrorists. In 2011, it was reauthorized by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama, all without much fuss. It will be in effect at least through 2015.

After 9/11, the country seemed to come down on the side of increased government powers in the security vs. privacy tug of war. If we have to decide between private phone records and stopping another big terrorist attack, it’s hard to argue against giving up some information.

It’s something else again when we so easily give information away to businesses.

We do it for convenience. Everett no longer even has a full-service bookstore, so online shopping only makes sense. We do it just for fun, too. I have shared pictures on Facebook of the Idaho resort where I go on vacation — just because I can.

What surprised me about seeing that Nordstrom sweater on my Facebook page was how specifically targeted the sales-pitch was.

Co-workers who understand social media much better than I do say that advertisers don’t want to waste their efforts pitching my preferences to other people. So apparently, my Facebook friends didn’t see that blue sweater linked to me.

It made me think, though. What if I weren’t looking at sweaters online? What if I were searching the Internet for something quite sensitive?

Let’s say you searched for a mental health counselor, a bankruptcy or divorce attorney, an addiction specialist, or for information about HIV medications. Would ads related to those things ever show up on a Facebook Home page?

And is anyone else nervous about the future?

Our government has its secrets — more, it turns out, than we imagined. Yet it’s getting harder to keep our own secrets private.

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; muhlstein@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.