How much privacy do we have?

[TropicalStarfish]

Privacy is a joke. If you think the war on drugs was bad or are indifferent to it, just wait. People think this **** doesn't affect them. They think, "I'm not doing anything wrong so what's the big deal?" THAT is precisely the big deal. You aren't doing ANYTHING wrong yet you are still suspect.

The right to trial is gone. The right to privacy is gone.

It's like how nobody thinks twice about giving into a drug test when they aren't doing drugs, and then wonders what the hell when that poppy seed bun they ate costs them the big job opportunity they thought they had coming (or when the cop plants drugs on them, or when the CI gets killed cause they were just being used for the bigger bust, or, or, or....

People don't care about these things until it effects them, though...

You will see complete and total awareness circuits in all the major cities and even the smaller ones (some of them are already online). Facial recognition will be every where (pretty much already is). And the "bad things" we are supposedly being protected from will just keep happening with an increased frequency (just like how well the war on drugs has stopped the flow of drugs, the war on terror is the same facade with same old promise)...

I mean seriously amazon already knows what you want to buy before you do, same with google, facebook... And that's just at the consumer level, heh...

But don't worry, as long as you are a good boy or girl, you have nothing to worry about... Except the NSA jerking off to your phone sex conversations, but don't worry, you won't know about it, so why should you care?

There are very serious reasons why nothing is being done about this. If you saw any of the occupy movements covered in the news, mostly what you saw, or what I saw, was attempts to make them look stupid. I doubt very much they gave any attention to the intelligent and coherent individuals that orchestrated most of it.

I admit to my own apathy and indifference in my utter hopelessness, confusion, and loss for what I could possibly do to change the course of things. Much like the way a child must feel when it is hungry, but too young to feed itself. I am a coward.

Wanting privacy makes you a criminal and you are suspect no matter what. That is the current state of affairs in the US because we confuse freedom with the ability to consume products, goods, and services usually with out much resistance, illegal or legal.

Freedom is something you are willing to die for, not something you are willing to give up to live comfortably.

 

[lusker]

All this conspiracy theorist propaganda about the big bad New World Order coming to enslave you and steal away your precious freedoms is just a steaming load.

Is anyone seriously concerned that the government is watching you? Why the **** would they bother? Are you that interesting to them? if you are, then maybe you need to be watched!

We leave information about ourselves on hundreds (if not thousands) of discrete databases worldwide. Anyone here ever tried executing a search warrant in a foreign country to seize data on a privately-owned server? Picture me holding my (well sculpted) belly and laughing my ******* ass off. Unless you are on a particular list of bad-guys, governments do not care about you and will not spend tax-payer funded federal resources to 'invade your privacy'.

A little note about facial recognition technology. Great piece of kit, if you are searching a crowd for a known, previously photographed felon! It is not used to monitor Joe Average's movements, because nobody gives a **** about Joe.

I'll make one qualification: you don't need to worry about the police or your government invading your privacy. If your confusing privacy with anonymity, you need to opt out of society altogether, because nobody has a right not to be known. It's the trade off you make for the benefits that flow from living in the world.

But whereas it costs money for the police to spy on you, it makes money for companies to spy on you, and to sell our consumer data to other companies. For anyone on Facebook, I am so, so sorry, but you just got sold. And sold again. Oh look, sold a third time! And a fourth, a fifth, six times already! And on it goes ...

Big Brother doesn't work at the precinct downtown, she has a corner office on the fiftieth floor of Omnicom at 437 Madison Avenue, New York.

Time to wake up.

 

[defenestrate]

Hey lusker. Thanks for posting. There's something that I'll like to add if that's okay.

We leave information about ourselves on hundreds (if not thousands) of discrete databases worldwide.

I think that privacy concerns are related more with this information we leave behind more so than anything else. Our means of identifying ourselves are limited and the social security system in America, for instance, are used as the national ID scheme. Which does create some very real, very tangible problems beyond paranoia. Exploiting tax code, total identity thief, and insurance fraud are the most common occurrences of fraud which will prevent you from ever owning a house, leasing an apartment, owning a car, earning a descent job. Assuming that what happens to your identity is severe enough.


Also - these aren't discrete databases. They're anything but discrete. They sell out their information to the highest bidder. This lucrative business model is the reason why you occasionally read about a ten digit acquisition of one marketing company purchasing another. One could literally purchase any information they collect, as what a family friend who isn't a cop so often does. He needs to for his job as a private investigator employed through insurance companies. You don't need to be in a position of authority representing the law. You and I could do it. With money, of course.

 

[lusker]

Hey lusker. Thanks for posting. There's something that I'll like to add if that's okay.

We leave information about ourselves on hundreds (if not thousands) of discrete databases worldwide.

... You don't need to be in a position of authority representing the law. You and I could do it. With money, of course.

Absolutely agree with your intelligent response, thank you.

The reason I cite the above is because it is the key: if the police had hundreds of billions of dollars, yes they could invade everyone's privacy all day, every day, and proactively monitor our behaviour before they have anything approaching (what we call in Oz) reasonable cause to suspect. Except that this is ILLEGAL in my country - maybe not in yours? I'd be surprised if not. What's probable cause mean in the US?

But it is not illegal for companies to gather, collate, and sell information about you. It is big business. THEY are the ones we need to worry about. My original post was in rebuttal of the NWO conspiracy theory that posits Big Brother government agencies invading the privacy of their citizens. Privacy, not anonymity, is protected by federal law in every Western nation I am aware of, and breaches are criminal offences that mandate a long holiday at Her Majesty's pleasure.

I know this because (I may regret disclosing this) it's what I do for a living.

 

[WildernessWildChild]

Just got this in an email.....