The future is a place where there is no real privacy left. There's nowhere to hide. Close the curtains, turn out the lights, don't speak. They're still listening...
Illegal wiretapping of cellphones is openly admitted by our government, as is sifting through any e-mails and cellphone calls they want. And no rioting in the streets over it. Govenor Spitzer of NY now understands that there is nowhere to hide, even for the powerful. Something said in confidence or "off the record?" Ask the "Hillary is a monster" Obama staffer about that old myth. In the digital age, privacy no longer exists.
The most insidious part of the death of privacy is the part we willingly help out with. We do it all the time and the new generation of consumers are apparently not concerned about this one little bit. Who needs privacy when you have Facebook and an iPhone? Being connected with your own little part of the world's expanding social net is all good, right?
Here's an interesting interview with Nicolas Carr, author of "The Big Switch" and the "Rough Type" blog about the evolution of computers and the end of privacy. Great stuff:
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Targeted web ads, on our Tivo's, on cellphones, gaming consoles,
know who we are, where we are, what we search for, what we view and
where we click. They are a huge money source for the web-- they are
powered by us giving away our personal information so that we can get
personalized service from the sites we visit. They allow us to get all
that free content, too.
Who needs privacy? Apparently not many at all...
Consumers to Providers: Do You Know Who I Am?
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I just read about Google getting the okay to purchase online ad company DoubleClick for a measley $3.1 billion. Microsoft tried to argue against it unsuccessfully:
[Microsoft's concerns]... "centred on Google’s ability to combine its own data about an individual’s internet search requests with data collected by DoubleClick about the websites that person visits."
Google Cleared to Buy Online Advertiser
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