This is going to be a tough slog for many of you folks, but you need to do it.
I will also be using this article as a gauge; its popularity and circulation will directly guide my future decisions.
First, I want you to read this in its entirety, from a Priest. This isn't really news to many people, myself included, but coming from someone with personal, inside experience you cannot discount or otherwise dismiss it. It's real.
The lesson found in that missive isn't really on the Catholic Church; if you confine your thinking to it you're making a grave mistake.
No, it's "big data" in general, and it's why we cannot allow it under anything approaching the terms we've permitted thus far.
The article points out that during the process of "formation", that is, when one is seeking to be a priest, it is inherently part of the process for an exhaustive examination of every part of you to be undertaken and documented. The Church has very good reasons for this, and they have obviously determined that it's not only necessary but "proper", and used properly it likely is.
The problem is that there are evil people everywhere, and once that data is amassed if they can get to it they both can and will use it -- improperly.
The usual refrain from the public is that "I have nothing to hide", so "who cares?"
That's missing the point; such data not only exposes what you've done but where you're vulnerable.
Read that article however many times you must for it to sink in. If a priest -- or priest-to-be -- didn't have anything the evil people could use to force them to remain in line and silent, or even worse, to cover up for outrageously evil acts they would find some way to create it! So if they figured out that your "kryptonite" rested in liking women, well, you'd be assigned to work with a group of young, attractive women. If they figured out you might be a pedarest? Girl's (or boys!) soccer coach! And so on.
What you have in that article is documentation of the weaponization of information that stretches back decades, long before we had computers, big data, cheap disks and servers. This was information divulged in confidence and written down on old-fashioned paper -- and then abused for nefarious, evil, heinous purpose. It was used for the explicit creation of monsters so you can blackmail said monster to do as you wish. That kids -- and adults -- get abused in the process is of no consequence to those undertaking this evil!
Spycraft, in the international sense, is mostly about compromising people. Nobody is iron-clad strong all the time and in all areas. Nobody. The classic "spy movie" example is the cute, young woman sent in to seduce the man, frequently with a few drinks, hopefully getting access to whatever she desires by sleeping with him. This is cliche because it's true, but prior to "big data" determining where the weakness was and how to exploit it either directly or by finding a way to blackmail you later on took quite a lot of work. This meant that it was only undertaken to target a few, very-interesting people -- and the risk of getting caught while trying to both amass the information and abuse it was quite high too.
This sort of data collection, analysis and abuse no longer requires any work at all, it now applies to everyone, and under current law and regulation it is impossible to not only know what's been collected (everything), how it's been analyzed (in every possible way) and who has or does access it for what purpose.
This must be not just stopped but retroactively forced out into the open with full disclosure in each and every instance to each and every person, along with hard, death penalty level enforcement for future violations.
If we don't do that then you will continue to be targeted.
Just to repeat in case that last sentence didn't sink in: CONTINUE to be targeted.
You already have been targeted and abused and in fact are abused every single day. For car insurance, homeowners insurance, rate of interest and terms on a credit card or other loan, in housing and employment. If you ever become "interesting" to people in power (e.g. you want to run for office, even something as simple as a school board) then suddenly it gets far worse in that all of that previously-collected data will be analyzed and used to either discover something with which you can be blackmailed now or, if there isn't anything yet your weaknesses will be analyzed and you will be continually tested until you fail and create the means to blackmail you.
Now you know why "Just-US" Roberts upheld Obamacare. You may not know what they (the medical industry, to be specific) got him with, but you can be assured they did. There were rumors of irregularities in his and his wife's adoption of their kids; true or not, who knows. Obama, same deal. There were myriad rumors of him being interested in men; these days, so what? But what if one or more them wasn't 18? Was that it? I have no damn clue but this much I'm sure of -- this is what is being done with that data and has been for a long time.
What I can assure you is that this sort of tactic is as old as spying and over the last couple of decades it has become available on a far "cheaper" basis to a whole host of people -- and now is available to be used by anyone of evil intent against virtually anyone in any position where compromising them is of value.
It must be assumed that every single sitting Congressperson, Supreme Court Justice, President (reasonably-recent past and present), Governors and most State legislators along with nearly all decision-making level individuals (such as Judges) at the State and Federal government levels are in fact under active blackmail threat right here, right now, every single day. This likely also extends to many county, city and local officials.
Note that in the linked article one of the "defensive measures" the creeps used, along with their enablers, is to explicitly target priests they cannot seduce to violate their vows and intentionally go to confession before them, thereby sealing their ability to speak. What do you think politicians and others in power do now with attorneys? Same thing -- they go "hire" one and suddenly -- bang, can't talk because of attorney-client privilege. If you can't seduce them (but they'll try that first -- and you can bet on that as that's a much more powerful tool) then find a means of stuffing a sock in their mouth via some privileged relationship.
There is utterly nobody who is safe from this.
Ever.
Nor can you be made safe from it.
Nobody is God, and nobody is Superman.
The only means to stop it is to make abuse of such information a capital felony and force into the open all who abuse it so they can be executed, making it your absolute civil right to know of all such data collection, distribution and sale along with all aggregations of same and the purpose for which it is done in every single case -- and to make concealment of the collection, sale, or purpose for which such data is used from you in any form proof of evil intent equivalent to any other capital offense.
Simply put anyone collecting and using said data must be forced, under penalty of capital felony conviction and death, to disclose each time said data is used, by whom, exactly how it is used, for what purpose and where the data was and is sent, with such being a positive duty for anyone holding same.
When you get an insurance quote, for example, the company must tell you not just that it used a "consumer report" (which they do) but exactly what data they obtained, from who they obtained it and the specifics of all the data they obtained, analyzed and how they did so to arrive at whatever result was obtained, in detail, sufficient for you to recreate in person their "scoring" and reach the same result.
In short that data must be yours -- your property and thus your right to know how, when, why and by whom it was used -- by virtue of being about and generated by your actions -- always.
It must be explicitly unlawful to collect, sell, collate or "work" this data for any purpose other than those explicitly disclosed and agreed to, in advance and all collectors and sellers of such data must be held equally responsible for any violation later on, including through their own negligence as if it was intentional conduct.
Violations must result in everyone involved being personally and criminally liable and upon conviction being executed, with any company involved being instantly dissolved. No ifs, ands or buts.
No exceptions can be permitted other than for US Government actions aimed at foreign nationals who are not protected under US Law and yes, this includes government agencies that collect and abuse information now -- all of them.
This must happen now. Period.
If it doesn't you can literally kiss our nation -- and anything approaching "freedom" -- goodbye.