as you may have noticed, i don’t make a lot of commentary on current events or technology news. it’s mostly due to my having a pretty serious case of social apathy and a lack of ability to thoughtfully present my take on issues. if there’s something going which matters enough to me that i need to discuss it, i’m usually too upset about it to discuss it all rationally. i usually just flip it over inside my head a few times and then make a few overly simplistic comments on it while refusing to elaborate for fear of getting too worked up.
that being said, i really did want to mention that this scares me in a lot of ways. i thought biometrics (retina scanning and fingerprint recognition) were going to be the next big privacy risk. boy, was i wrong. the idea that everything i buy could be electronically tagged which, with a network of well-placed transceivers, would enable whomever to track every move i make… ugh.
yeah, okay, it’d be great to be able to find the car which was stolen or the cat which ran away during that big thunderstorm or the kid who was abducted from her bedroom; but, do you honestly think such uses would be the stopping point for this technology? do you trust your neighbours or governments to truly have your best interests at heart when they slowly increase the use of such monitoring?
if you do, you’re not very smart.
fine, call me paranoid if you want, but it’s bad enough i provide safeway with a detailed list of everything i buy each week when i use their savings card to obtain their special prices or let my bank keep records of every transaction i make with my debit card. i don’t want my shoes or the tires on my car telling whichever entity cares to track it about where i’m going or how i’m getting there. it’s none of their fucking business.
okay, i’m getting all worked up. read the articles, make up your own mind. just remember, that if you don’t agree you have every right, and even an obligation, to speak up about it. in situations such as these, silence is the same as consent.
Did you read the comments after article? LOL
I don’t know what to think. It’s gonna happen anyway so why fight it [aparthetic I know…]
I’m sure those big corporations and the goverment know shedloads about us anyway.
Ever seen Enemy of the State?
we’re tracked all the time and we don’t even know it…surveillance cameras, cell phones, membership cards, it’s all over the place. unfortunately we’ll have to get used to it
One of my favorite topics. I could fill a blog board with opinions on this subject alone. Here’s 2 bits worth. Yes, it is going to be instated. As the article says, it already is in some “products”. There’s a tagging project underway that may require all citizens to receive a personal transceiver implanted in their person, without option to decline. ( Not to be implemented for some years yet ). Sadly, this is no longer a fictitous 1984 scenario. Big brother is indeed watching, though big brother very likely couldn’t give two shits about you. I’ve tried to find the site about the anti-terrorist acts being passed in the background akin to national ID cards, or these transceivers; no luck. Word has it that the national ID card idea is being written off in favor of the implanted transceiver. It is cheaper, it cannot be lost, it’s harder to counterfeit, and it allows you to be tracked anywhere you go. There’s dire economic changes on the horison also driving this technology. Another subject in itself, though loosely related. Regardless, for the sake of national security and safer citizens, this will happen. It is only a matter of time, and you’d be surprised how easily we the masses will be convinced this is for our own good; to submit to being “tagged” like cattle. Think this seems a bit unreal? Crazy? If the American Color-Coded ” Threat ” level displayed every half an hour on the yankee broadcasting systems are any indication, Sept. 11 will someday pale in comparison to whats in store. This may just be the calm before the storm… leading to the driving force to a frighteningly real orwellian future…
the solution is to move out of the us, and eventually out of north america.
in the meantime, fuck with the system at every chance. use your safeway card, but use a fake name, number, and address. cover up the camera when you use an atm. use cash instead of debit. it’s fun.