Earlier this week, a bombshell was dropped as leaked information showed that Verizon and other major cell phone companies had been served with secret court orders to hand out cellular information on millions of their customers.
What has garnered less attention, however, is the fact that several major credit card companies have received the same requests.
Outlined in a report by the Washington Post, a program only known as PRISM has been in effect for quite some time – utilizing the complacency of select online giants like Microsoft and Facebook to collect and categorize various elements of information about millions of Americans.
Perhaps one of the most unsettling forms of privacy disruption is the notion that credit card companies have been ordered to turn over volumes of information in regards to purchase history - as well as other forms of consumer-level data - in order to facilitate what can only be assumed as an effort to build comprehensive profiles on citizens.
Recent statements from both the White House and the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have shown that the government as a whole is strongly supportive of these measures. Senator Reid was mocked by some media outlets after saying that the program had existed for quite some time and that people should calm down in regards to these developments.
Many privacy proponents are unnerved by the amount of bipartisan support the PRISM system currently enjoys, while its proponents argue that the system falls under congressional oversight and requires renewal each quarter.
Particularly in regards to credit card data, many consumers feel worried that their personal expenses could be used against them by state and federal authorities in the form of profiling. One example would be a farmer who purchased fertilizer; he or she may then be considered a suspect in a potential bombing if his or her profile matches enough criteria to raise red flags.
Whatever the outcome of this program, the notion of privacy has been disrupted beyond what was previously conceivable: with the government now actively monitoring millions of Americans' credit card purchases, many are asking whether they need to continue holding onto lines of credit in the first place.