Your closing statement is very misleading:

...your privacy is in your own hands, so exercise and assert your right to it all the time, every time and in every way, or don't blame others if it's compromised.

In light of all the things you mention above, how is a person supposed to "assert [his/her] right to it all the time?"  It's not like you can opt out of the online public records that are so readily available to anyone with an internet connection and plenty of free time.  You'd almost have to sever all ties with the civilized world and live in a cave somewhere to go "off-grid".  And as far as Google Street View is concerned, there was a recent appeals court ruling in a case I blogged about a while back which basically stated that there is no expectation of privacy on a public street.  The appeal of Plaintiffs Aaron and Christine Boring was dismissed because their claim failed to state a case upon which relief could be granted.  Seems the court agreed with Google's argument that the definition of "private" is very different these days.

No.  You don't have to live in a cave.

You can have trusts that you put your registered property into and postal drop  boxes tied to them that don't lead back to you directly.

You can keep an unlisted phone number and turn off GPS tracking on your phone.

You can offer a pseudonym when setting up Yahoo email accounts and such, instead of using your real name.

You can turn on privacy toggles on your social web pages.

You can park your car in a closed garage at home instead of on the street, or cover it with a protective tarp to keep prying eyes off of it.

You can pay cash for brigde toll instead of using the convenience of FastTrack-style passes.

You can use anaonymous servers to hide your incoming IP Address on websites.

You can use pseudonyms for buyers club cards like Safeway or other grocery outlets.

Your premise is that the exercise of rights is too hard to do, or you can't think of how to do so.  If ignorance of the law is no excuse for murder or running a stop sign, then ignorance of your rights is not a reasonable basis for complaining that your right to privacy has vanished.

I just thought of a couple more:

You can drape camo netting over your home to make it invisible to Google Earth's spybot satellites high in orbit, and;

You can wear an aluminum foil helmet to keep the men in the black helicopters from reading your thoughts.  (j/k, Will!)

But seriously, what sane human being in their right mind is going to want to go to all that trouble?  Like it or not, if someone wants to find you badly enough, they can, even if you do take all of those precautions.  My premise being that this "brave new world" of ours just ain't big enough to get lost in anymore.

I'm just sayin'....

 

i know that your question is intended to be rhetorical, but the reality is that a statistically significant portion of billions of people want privacy and will go to far greater lengths than these to exercise it.  i agree with much of what you say, after all, i too get paid to find and process data.  however, just as i don't see you putting your social security number, mothers maiden name, eye color, blood type, and list of favorite passwords online with every forum post, i can assume that you don't want this data all over the internet.  hence, while i appear to evoke visions of tin foil wearing extremism, my statements are very modest when looked at in perspective.  i'm "just saying" too that you have the right, the power and the responsibility to control what you put online about yourself, and the more data you reveal, the easier it is for the process server, bounty hunter, claimant against your interests, annoying advertisers, or outright criminals to find and use you to their ends.  i suggest erring on the side of caution and exercising your rights.  people are kinda stupid who don't exercise their rights and then lose them only to whine about it, don't 'cha think???

That's globalization. We become known to everyone. Ir you're not hiding anything then, there is nothing to be afraid of. What's the difference between someone around the globe knows where your house is and your neighbor knowing what school your kids go? None.

Really?  I mean really?

YOU have NOTHING to hide?

So, you don't mind your kids being hacked and tracked by their GPS in their phone by some pervert?

You don't mind someone taking personal wedding pictures out of your online hosting folders and clipping your wife's head to a super model body for their own sexual gratification, then passing that around the net?

You don't care if the wingnut you got into a political or religious flame war with last week can track yuo down at work or home and hide in wait for you?

You don't mind theives knowing when you're in your home, your work schedule, who lives with you, your alarm codes and more so that they can steal you blind?

You don't mind that all the neighbors on the block know your personal medical history:  ever have VD or erectile disfunction or a gentic abnormality?  what about your health insurer denying you coverage for such?  No problem there either?

want more?  i can list dozens of scenarios.  If you fear none of this, then your next post  here should be your full civil name, birth date, mothers maiden name, social security number, home phone, addess, credit card number and expiration, pin number, email address, main account passwords, and we'll go from there, "Mr. Fearless".  lol.  I doubt you have nothing to hide.

But seriously, what sane human being in their right mind is going to want to go to all that car games trouble?  Like it or not, if someone wants to find you badly enough, they can, even if you do take all of those precautions. amazon coupons

Kerr:  the type of human that does this is the seriously deranged type of human.  I prefer to avoid the angry type of hate monger, but when I run afoul of one, I prefer to not have my information easily and readily available to him on the internet.

In 27 years of all sorts of records research, I know exactly how easy it is and how  much easier it is getting to do this sort of thing.

I suppose that, in reading the bylines, you don't ever see situations that this speaks to?  The celebrities that are stalked, the former lover that violates restraining order to find a person in hiding, the children taken off the streets by strangers who know their names and personal data, the debt collectors who use the data to harass people whose debt was paid off long ago, the spammers who use your purchases to solicit you in your mailbox and email box and phone at dinner, the thief who knows your password to check out your empty house with remote surveilance through your home computer camera, the scammer who uses your credit cards in another city, the bully at school who drives your daughter to suicide on the internet,....

shall i go on?  it's easy and topical...

Privacy may be a fundamental Right, but it is your duty and responsibility to assert and exercise  your own Rights:  NOBODY will do it for you.

An invasion of privacy is when your Right is violated.

Do public records constitute a violation of your privacy:  no.  That answer is obvious.