What is happening to us? The computer age was supposed to be a very good thing, it was supposed to make all our lives better and easier, at least that was what all the experts were telling us. But has it done this for us? It has helped us in some ways, there is no denying this. Look at the revolution in medical diagnostic instruments. They could never have come about without computers. Almost every area of mechanical contrivance has benefited from computers. So again I ask, have computers made our lives better?

The answer to this question is beginning to look like a resounding NO. While, on the surface, it seems like the answer should be yes, the problems that have been caused by both computers and humans in connection with computer data have created a living hell for many people. We all know that identity theft is rampant right now. In case you don't know what this is, it is where someone acquires enough information on you that they can pretend to be you and then do all sorts of despicable things in your name, including running up huge bills and destroying your credit rating. The risk of this for people using the internet to buy things is bad enough and that in itself deters many from online purchases but it is compounded many times over, by human incompetence.

Look at what happened just the other day. In Long Island, New York all the personal data for everyone who ever worked for the Long Island Railroad was some how placed in a box and then the box was promptly lost. How could anyone be this stupid? How could this box even leave the premises of the payroll or personnel department of the Long Island Railroad? Oh you know what will happen here, the blame will trickle down from those who are rightly responsible, to the lowest employee and in the end, some janitor will be blamed for throwing the box away. If this kind of stuff doesn't call for harsh punishment of those responsible then nothing does.

Banks are losing our data at an incredible rate. It seems that almost every week we hear about a bank losing the data of hundred of thousands or even millions of people. What kind of laws do we have that allow this to happen with impunity. Oh the government is quick to punish someone who says something that they don't like who worked for an government agency but take some high ranking employee of that same agency who loses a lap top with sensitive data on it and you never hear anymore about it. It always seems to be the same thing, punish the little guy but if some political hack is responsible for gross negligence, try and sweep it under the rug. This is not something that is going on in one or two agencies but in every government agency from Federal agencies all the way down through town government.

There may come a time when everyone of us suffers data loss. It only takes one slip by the Social Security people and that is the end, our social security numbers, job info, along with residence and other personal info will no longer be secret, as a matter of fact, how do we even know that it hasn't happened already?

There are so many lost laptop computers out there, that might even contain info on creating an atom or hydrogen bomb. I am not saying they do, just that one or two might. I truly would like to know what idiot allows people in the Defense Department to take out laptops with sensitive info on them? Just so you know where I am coming from, CNN reported on August 16, 2002 (over 3 years ago) that at that time over 2,000 IRS laptops were lost or stolen and they might have contained tax payer info. The reason for the word "might" is probably because no one at the IRS wants to be the person that says that some did.

In 2004 a report came out, I have no verification on this, that a famous governor's press assistant lost his laptop and no one knows for sure what was on it. The Sunday Mail reported that 3 computers containing George Bushes campaign plans were stolen, this was on October 5, 2004. It is reported that over 1,600 laptops are stolen a day in the U.S. Yeah, can you believe that, over one thousand six hundred. That is quite a figure. If the average Joe loses his laptop or it gets stolen that is his problem, but when one of these computers contains my personal data, that should be not only a problem for me but also for the jerk that lost it, the company or agency he works for and for government lawmakers since there are no laws on the books today that offer any penalty for those running around with my data and losing it.

For one thing, your data should have to stay in a secure location and not be on every Tom, Dick and Harry's laptop. That is just plain ridiculous. Just the fact that it was put on a laptop and allowed to go off site should be a crime. This is not just happening here either. In 2001 over 5 years ago, 205 British Defense Ministry laptops with data on new Defense systems on them were lost or stolen. I wonder what that figure would be today?

145,000 blood donors, according to CNET on June 10, 2004, became susceptible to identify theft because their info was on a stolen laptop. Yes no good deed will go unpunished as Mr. Murphy liked to say. The FBI states that you can expect one in eight lap tops to be stolen. Wait they said this in the year 2000, the figure might be much higher today. Hey let's have some laws that protect us, isn't that what our representatives are supposed to be doing for us, or are they afraid of offending the hand that feeds them?