Liberties and Online Monitoring

[AFPVet]

Other forum members brought up an important issue regarding how we are victims of technology—specifically, facial recognition, tracking and other monitoring.

Consider this, each time you type a word into a search engine, Facebook or online dating site... advertising software (which you agree to in the TOS) databases all of the words you use and sells them to companies in order to match you with products or services which are tailored to you.

Interestingly enough, these same sophisticated algorithms could be used by any other agency in order to track you, predict patterns or be used to put together profiles. As we have examined earlier, government programs have been used to surveil citizens for quite some time... and now, even more sophisticated programs are in use by major advertising....

Some rhetorical questions to consider:

• What does all of this mean for our liberty?
• How does this impact the future of our liberties with regard to communication?
• Could this information be misused/abused?

 

[DamianTV]

Demolition Man.

 

[DamianTV]

I dont think there is any point in trying to come up with specific scenarios of how the lack of Anonymity or Privacy can and will be used against the public, but rest assured, every opportunity will be taken. I posted an article yesterday about the Nissan Leaf transmitting exact location and speed data, and the point was there that the Government will fine you at every opportuntiy for the smallest of infractions. But this falls into the scenario category. The thing is, when everything a person says and does is completely monitored, Politicians look at it two fold for both the Opportunities to milk a Cash Cow through Fines, and to further restrict what a person can say and do.

Look at the Bloggers in China that are fined for reporting an opinion on the Chinese Govt. When the Govt knows exactly who said what, even when it is in your own home expressing a sigh of relief while going to the bathroom, statements like "Launching a Brown Submarine" (I.E. taking a shit) can get a person quickly labeled as a terrorist. When people stop saying what they think, they stop thinking about saying those forms of things. Thus, the loss of Anonymity and Privacy becomes an extension of the Thought Police.

GPS Data is actually very very very accurate. It depends on the device being used, but many engineering grade devices can be accurate to less than an inch. So not only will you eventually get a fine when you speed 0.01 MPH over the posted speed limit, but you will also get a ticket for not using your Turn Signal when turning off of a Farm Road on to another Farm Road, neigther with any other cars on them.

When your Grandmothers Medicine Cabinet has some expired medications that are also controlled substances, like painkillers, she can be labeled a "Drug Addict" or "Abuser", then Fined, then your Grandmother will have a Criminal Record for having one last pill of Hydrocodone in her Medicine Cabinet one second after Midnight of its Expiration Date.

But the Most Dangerous thing that can happen is to speak in a Negative Manner about any of our Shadowy Overlords. Does anyone really think that if they are able to know who said what, where they said it, who they said it to, and exactly what time it was said, that they will allow us to talk like that without finding some excuse to get rid of us? I am ususally stuck in the Scenarios of what can happen, but rest assured, eventually, it WILL happen.

The thing is, people are Enabling this. Not by saying or thinking Negatively of our Shadowy Puppetmasters (patterns) but by volunteering their information. People post information on Facebook about when they are going on Vacation. Then they come home, and their house has been broken into and everything they own is gone. It wasnt Facebook that broke into their homes, or even the Thieves that used Facebook to know that the wouldnt be home and find an available opportunity to improve their lives at someone elses expense that created the problem, it was the fact that said people Volunteered their information to Facebook to begin with.

There are a lot of people with the attitude that "They dont have anything to hide, so why should they care if the Govt monitors everything they do?" to which, my response is usually "If they can monitor everything you do, they will find something that you should have hidden from them to begin with".

 

[BeautifulWorld]

It's the citizens who have the right to secrecy. The government has no right to any secrecy whatsoever.