Joe the Plumber has no Privacy

Barack Obama and Joe the Plumber. Photo by Jae C. Hong, for the Associated Press.

Joseph Wurselbacher, better known as “Joe the Plumber”, has become an interesting mascot during the election race in the US. As an icon for the average middle class American, Joe the Plumber has been used by both Barack Obama and John McCain in their debates – especially the third debate on 15 October 2008.

Joe isn’t anybody unusual. He just happened to be someone who asked Obama a question [See YouTube-Video] about taxes, and then McCain took "Joe the Plumber" as a “face” for the typical American that would be affected by Obama’s suggested tax changes. [Here is more on Joe and the Obama-McCain debate.]

Now what interests me is not that the candidates are hijacking Joe the Plumber as a symbol for the middle class, but rather the sinister privacy breaches.

“State and local officials are investigating whether state and law-enforcement computer systems were used illegally to obtain personal information about "Joe the Plumber",” reports the Columbus Dispatch. The New York Times ads: “The illegal access case is just one of four similar incidents involving Wurzelbacher's information after the plumber shot into the news following McCain's repeated use of his name to highlight a point about Obama's tax plans.”

Here’s this guy; haphazardly his name is used by some politicians for their own agendas. And then suddenly, although quite innocent himself, he has “illegal” background checks done on him. Who is doing it? Of course both the McCain group and the Obama group are accusing each other. But that is not my issue; to me the real issue is that such privacy violations are happening all the time in America. It is just accidental that we actually heard about it in this case.

Indeed, Joe the Plumber is really an icon for the typical middle-class American; the typical American whose privacy is at stake.