[s-t] privacy and caution digest #2

Steve Lamont spl at ncmir.ucsd.edu
Tue Oct 28 20:57:56 PST 2003


> My only contribution is the mantra: "Take comfort in your own
> unimportance."  That is to say, paranoia has more than a smidgen of
> self-aggrandisement to it, and though everyday worrying is not
> paranoia, it's important to remember the allure inherent in thinking
> yourself a certain target.  Most of us, perhaps all of us on this
> list, aren't worth it; whatever we do which might displease the
> government or a real or fictive person with power is almost certainly
> being done at the same time by a lot of other people.
>
> Fear of being watched is part of the plan of anyone maliciously watching.

Except, of course, that while you as an individual may be unimportant,
information about you is.  Your email address is important to
spammers, who seem to go to extraordinary lengths to get it and to
break through any barriers you might attempt to erect to prevent them
from filling your email file[*] with crap.  Mass marketers want your
physical mail address, to which they direct entire old growth forests
worth of paper to entice you to refinance, change your phone carrier,
or reshingle your house, usually with some deceptive come-on to dupe
the slow-witted.  Telemarketers. . . well, you get the idea.

In the future, your shopping cart will spy on you as you cruise the
aisles of your local megamart, phoning home whenever you slow down in
front of the Oreos display, buy cheese, or condoms.

Your TiVo already reports what programs you record, what commercials
you skip and which ones you rewind and watch again.  Your CD or MP3
player will probably be soon uploading your music preferences back to
the RIAA.

And if you wish to live anything resembling a comfortable life, you
will have no option but to submit.

Your every move will be watched, not just by TIA and the CIA but
Nielson, Safeway, Wal*Mart, Fox, and Nike.

The government only cares about your politics.  The real Big Brother
cares about your wallet and is thus much, much, more motivated.

							spl

--
[*] I hate the "mail box" metaphor.  It's not a box.  It's a file.  Or
a directory.  Whatever it is, it ain't a box.  But that's another rant
for another day.

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