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On his Fox News show, host Glenn Beck warned that the government's Cars.gov website allows for tracking of your computer activity. Part of the website says "This application provides access to the DoT CARS system. When logged on to the CARS system, your computer is considered a Federal computer system and is the property of the U.S. Government." You can go on and read the rest of the fine print if you'd like, but you do so at your own risk.
If you'd just like to see what Glenn Beck had to say about the website, check out the video below from YouTube. Is it a legitimate concern or just a talk show host overreacting for ratings? You decide. However, before you completely dismiss this, you might want to read this article about being able to track you on your cell phone to within a few feet. Technology is great, but in the wrong hands, it can lead to a serious breach of privacy.
Comments
As soon as I hear "Glenn Beck says...", I prepare myself for some off-the wall stuff. I think it's much ado about nothing.
Because some programmer or web designer worded a security/privacy notice stupidly, it deserves hours of hysterical ranting of "government owns your pc" on Fox "News". Republicans are kooks.
same here..."Glenn Beck" added to any sentence discredits just about anything said within the sentence.
www.dot.gov/privacy.html
Why bother with Glenn Beck?
click on the privacy policy link for examiner.com
"Your consent to this Privacy Policy
By using our Site, you are agreeing to the collection, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy, you may not use our Site."
maybe Glenn Beck ought to do an expose' on this website that we are on.
It's interesting that most sites have these kind of disclaimers. It's just a generalized disclaimer saying they're not liable for anything. Sometimes computers can be quite complicated and most people don't take the time to look into these things!
Sure, Glen beck is an idiot. He also has really stupid opinions. However, in this case he's actually just plain wrong. Has he publicly admitted his errors yet?
the area of the bill he's incorrectly referencing is the part where dealers, that would be the people doing the document verification to the federal government, have to be connected to and provide validation to federal computers, oh never mind why am I bothering to explain? If you believe Glenn Beck, you probably believe the Birthers too... idiots.
I like the part about being able to track you forever with malware... Classic! and the government can listen to your phone call if you are talking on skype. ROFL... by the way, did you notice it was on the dealer side not the consumer side?
"Because some programmer or web designer worded a security/privacy notice stupidly,..."
As a career software developer, I can say with near certainty that a "programmer or web designer" did not write the notice. We don't write that B.S. - it comes from corporate lawyers.
Morons. Beck never said it was for all consumers, was just pointing out how onerous the agreement was. I wonder if any of you leftwing nutjobs have the guts to go to the site and click "agree"?
this message only appears for the dealers who are trying to submit a transaction(customers go to a different site). govt needs to make sure the transaction is legit.
The bottom line is, if you are not educated enough to know that the Government does not always have it's citizens best interest in mind, then I look forward to meeting you when you come to my house so I can show you my papers. If on the other hand you aren't educated enough to sift through so much of the BS that people come up with to get ratings, then be sure to sit by the window...starting TONIGHT...cause they are coming for your papers! :)
For working trucks the rule is not based on the fuel efficieny. As long as it is manufactured before 2001 they all qualify
but cannot be older than 25 years old.
Jimhenry
Blogger
www.cashforclunkersfacts.info
Glenn Beck once fired a guy for bringing him the wrong colored pen. These days he makes pronouncements about the future of our country and his right wing twisted freak audience is supposed to follow his plan for saving the world.
Well folks the gov. pulled the page for "rewording" Just a silly mistake I guess !
Glen the right wing Beck is sooooooo far out of touch with the America I know . Beck & pill popper Rush work from a FEAR base ,All they have is Hate for a plan to bring America in line with other nations who help people stay healthy and strong. Beck & Rush enjoy your health care while 14k people a day lose their health care .you would be the last people I would want in a fox hole w/ me .you are cowardshe of the first degree.
www. pcworld .com/article/169615/uncle_sam_wants_to_control_your_computer.html
Doing more research and using your brain may help cut down on all the paranoia and finger pointing... of course, that would make the world much less amusing to those who already do. :-)
I don't do drugs...when I want to twist my mind for amusement, I watch Foxnews...Glenn Beck is the hemp smoking caterpillar...O'Reilly is the chesire cat...Hannity is the red queen...Karl Rove is the mad hatter...using these samples is the only way I can make sense of the looking glass that is Foxnews and their crazy beliefs.
Everyone says the concern is only for Car dealers but what about the personal information YOU give to the dealer that he STORES on the computer used to log in to the cars.gov site.
If everything on that computer is now legally the governments then what kinds of personal information about you will be stored on THAT computer that the government may have access to.
What if a dealer collected bank account informatin, etc. Would that not also be subject to their agreement to this site's usage?
Ron... are you serious? Any information you give a car dealer the government ALREADY knows. Q - What happens when you go to the DMV and register that car you just bought? A - You give your information to the government. Same goes before you even bought the car. You gave the DMV (and, thus, the government) your information to get the driver's license that allows you to drive in the first place. This, of course, assumes that you DO have a driver’s license.
Also, unless you're paying cash for the car you just bought; don't you think the car dealership is going to run a credit report on you? Granted that's not going to give them detailed bank account information, but they can see certain things.
Again, the public really needs to educate themselves on things before they go spouting un-researched information and crying that the sky is falling. Of course, that sort of stuff just amuses people like me. On second thought, everyone just keep doing what you’re doing. :-)
Paranoia...first, I don't know about your DMV but I don't have to give them my personal bank account information to register. Second, I don't just carelessly send my account information to the government (or anyone else) despite the fact most people probably do to get their tax rebates deposited in their bank accounts faster. Third, just because the government KNOWS your information doesn't mean that I've agreed to a end user license agreement that gives them legal rights to USE that information...and possibly use it against me. Fourth, basically you are arguing that the information is already in the hands of the government so freely give it out without questioning...if so....then paranoia is the wrong name for you.
Once again, all of your points argue that the information is already known...this may be true for most americans but isn't the real point of this video that the information can now be legally USED, and used against you, and not just KNOWN which is all you seem to addre
Ron, again, please do more research and read my statements. At no point did I imply that the DMV is taking your bank account information, I was stating that you give the DMV your personal information (i.e. social security number, address, age). I then went on to say that, assuming you do not pay cash for the vehicle you buy, you will have to apply for some sort of loan, which, whoever is supplying you the money MAY have access to your bank account information and they will most likely run a credit report on you as well. Also, at no point was I implying to “freely give it out without questioning”.....
Continued...
...Continued from previous post...
The point I was making was that a lot of people are freaking out that, according to Mr. Beck, the government is going to take over your computer and monitor every single thing on it now and in the future, which, again, if you do research (and I mean a collective "you", as in "if someone does research"), that is NOT the case. Your points were “what if the car dealer has bank information”. Well, the dealer probably doesn't, first of all, and if the dealership DOES, and the government now knows your bank account information (again, when the DEALER connects to the website/application), so what? How is the government going to use your bank account information, which they could easily access anyway, against you (which seems to be your big concern by your latest reply)? Unless they have suspicion of you doing something illegal, why would they care about your bank information?
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