At this point, I don't see how we'll ever be in the same information access league as a large corporation (like TRW) or a branch of government. They will always know far more about us than we will ever know about them - they have money and power behind them to accomplish this. How do you propose getting them to share their information? More regulation? Make everything public record?

I, for one, don't even put my social security number on the client copy of my temp time card! The client has absolutely no need of my SS#. I don't want them to even have the ability to look up my financial records (not that this would be very interesting, it's just none of their business!) And what about all those telemarketing calls we'd get if everything about us was attainable information? How many MORE mailing lists would we be on - and the companies wouldn't have to pay a direct mail house for demographics!

Last but not least, there's already enough of a problem with stalkers in our society. Of course, I'm probably not famous enough to be stalked, but I'd still rather not have my personal information available to just ANYbody.

For more comments on this, check out the April (I think) issue of Wired magazine - the letters section has a few comments on the topic. The previous issue, which I don't have, apparently had an article on free access to information.