The U.S. goverment knows that I am John Michael Povey (not Mary Gilliigan).

When I re-entered the U.S.A last June  (in Boston),  (after my fabulous holiday in England and Norway),  the very pleasant immigration officer noted that my passport would expire in January 2015. 
He advised me to renew the Passport ASAP since (according to him) the National Passport Center had a six month backlog.

I (snail-mailed) the passport renewal docs, together with my check/cheque for $110 on September 1st.  My new passport arrived today (September 25th).

That's good work on the part of a Governmental Agency. Despite what Republican/Tea Party/ Libertarian  idiots assert - government works!

My new U.S. Passport asserts that I am indeed John Michael Povey. Three cheers for the bureaucracy!

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Meanwhile, the private sector,  (i.e. Fidelity Investments) continues to assert that I am "Mary Gilligan" (see yesterday's blog).

In truth the local Fidelity rep. wants me to present my Social Security Card at the Fidelity SRQ office to prove that I am John Michael Povey (not Mary Gilligan). 

Dammit all, why should I have to do this?  Why should I have to do all the work to cover a Fidelity error?

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In the meantime (and this is a bit scary and a bit good) - the Church Pension Fund has an efficient "trawling" of the social media.

Indeed so efficient that the good folks at the CPF were able to read the concerns that I expressed  yesterday on Facebook. (They must scan the "net" for any and all references to CPF)  

So it was that a staff member at the CPF phoned me today. She assured me that the CPF records note that I am John Michael Povey (not Mary Gilligan), and she promised to follow through with Fidelity to set the record straight.

Good work on the part of CPF .Without doubt.

But  I am more than a wee bit leery about our surrender of privacy when we enter cyberspace

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