by Simson Garfinkel

About the author: Simson Garfinkel is a columnist for the Boston Globe and the author of Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century.

You wake to the sound of a ringing telephone—but how could that happen? Several months ago, you reprogrammed your home telephone system so it would never ring before the civilized hour of 8 A.M. But it’s barely 6:45. Who was able to bypass your phone’s programming"

You pick up the receiver, then slam it down a moment later. It’s one of those marketing machines playing a recorded message. What’s troubling you now is how this call got past the filters you set up. Later on you’ll discover how: The company that sold you the phone...