PRIVACY

I've been going through some old family papers and found a listing of my father's retirement benefits. He retired in 1968. This paper listed not only his benefits, but the benefits of four other retirees. It also listed in full their social security numbers.

How times have changed. Back in 1968 there were no worries about identify theft. Were we more honest then, or has technology made such things easier? There was no blacking out of the amounts due these people and their addresses along with their date of retirement and pension number. It was all there for anyone of these five people to see each of the other's personal data.

We didn't worry about privacy then, or that someone would use our social security number for their own unethical purposes. This is one time that they truly were "the good old days".