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Have we become too accustomed to "Big Brother"...???

vetusvates

vetusvates

Gamaliel's Principle
These two articles linked below, I found while reading the news this morning.
They pretty much represent two extremes of a theme.

Note :
In 1985-90 when I was a 'research associate' in drugs-of-abuse testing,...I had a boss who was very modern in his thinking. He had a Ph.D. in Pharmacology/Toxicology...and also a Ph.D. in Psychology.
He was very much a believer in "what you, as consenting adults (within legal reason), do on your own time in your own home is your own business". And not HIS business as an employer or supervisor to be surreptitiously snooping into. He did not look upon your way of life,...nor private or public past times and hobbies away from work, as bearing a direct relationship to the job you could do, on the clock, for him.
Pretty progressive for 1985.

The Government Can Use GPS to Track Your Moves :
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2013150,00.html

Germany may prevent employer Facebook checks :
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100825/ap_on_hi_te/eu_germany_facebook_law
 
Then I guess I am pretty progressive - I already believed that government (and everyone else not involved) should stay out of personal matters back when I was in high school in the late '60s, lol! I never heard of the word "libertarian" until decades later - but I was one, anyway - even way back then.

I think the problem is WORSE than the first article suggested. I have read that all new cars either do, or will, have GPS built right into them. I have also read that some states (I think maybe Oregon, or Washington?) were considering using that GPS info to base car registration fees upon. For example, if you drive more city miles, you might pay more than somebody who drives in the country more, or who drives less miles. It was a few years ago I heard that. I don't know if they have implemented it, are still planning it, or have given it up. But just the fact that they seriously CONSIDERED it should concern (and scare!) anyone who is concerned about privacy. Once such GPS records are used for something like motor vehicle dept. records, SOMEBODY will be able to keep track of your every move, if they want to expend the money and effort to do so.

Add that new technological piece to all of the cameras in every conceivable public place, the GPS on your cell phone, and the electronic trail you leave with every credit or debit card purchase, and it would seem that 1984 is truly arriving, just a little late.

SCARY STUFF, at least to me!
 
kathylove said:
Then I guess I am pretty progressive - I already believed that government (and everyone else not involved) should stay out of personal matters back when I was in high school in the late '60s, lol! I never heard of the word "libertarian" until decades later - but I was one, anyway - even way back then.

I think the problem is WORSE than the first article suggested. I have read that all new cars either do, or will, have GPS built right into them. I have also read that some states (I think maybe Oregon, or Washington?) were considering using that GPS info to base car registration fees upon. For example, if you drive more city miles, you might pay more than somebody who drives in the country more, or who drives less miles. It was a few years ago I heard that. I don't know if they have implemented it, are still planning it, or have given it up. But just the fact that they seriously CONSIDERED it should concern (and scare!) anyone who is concerned about privacy. Once such GPS records are used for something like motor vehicle dept. records, SOMEBODY will be able to keep track of your every move, if they want to expend the money and effort to do so.

Add that new technological piece to all of the cameras in every conceivable public place, the GPS on your cell phone, and the electronic trail you leave with every credit or debit card purchase, and it would seem that 1984 is truly arriving, just a little late.

SCARY STUFF, at least to me!
Click to expand...
You are so right, Kathy.
And I made that remark ("Pretty progressive for 1985."), as I am sure you know, with more than a little sarcasm.

Several of us had a conversation at Daytona about prospective employers asking to see facebook pages. It struck me that, over time, what would have been an offensive invasion of privacy to me/others 30 years ago....has...over time (as I said)...been diluted and buffered and seasoned and cooked and served...to be perfectly palatable and acceptable to some people.

The former boss, of which I spoke, used a very humorous (to me) analogy regarding our founding fathers. Specifically, two of the most liberal and broad-minded thinkers, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. What would be their reaction if one Monday morning they walked into work and were demanded to fill up a cup with their urine? I'd love to see the look on Ben's face. LOL.
 
"...It struck me that, over time, what would have been an offensive invasion of privacy to me/others 30 years ago....has...over time (as I said)...been diluted and buffered and seasoned and cooked and served...to be perfectly palatable and acceptable to some people..."

It seems that is how freedom is usually lost - one small step at a time. Whether it is the slow invasion of privacy, or the slow erosion of freedom to keep the pets you desire, we lobsters seem oblivious to the slowly rising temperature of the pot we are in, and probably won't notice until the water is already boiling.
 
Who would a thunk it? Someone, someday, is going to make a fortune by building and selling tin foil hats for cars....... :idea:
 
I'd have to say it's boiling now.

Just 2 days ago I got a new debit card. It had one of those nifty RFD chips built in. Had I not read the fine print, or paid any attention at all to anything around me, I would not have known that.

I am pretty sure that millions of other people are getting cards with those neat little chips in them and then going merrily about their lives having no clue that anyone can track them, get access to their personal information and use it for whatever they want.

I flat out say they're lying and know it when they say it's safe. Nothing has ever been totally safe. How many people's SS numbers and tax records have been stolen from "safe" places? Places guaranteed to keep that data safe from those who shouldn't have it? All of them be they public or private.

I cut my little card in half and trashed it. I'll use my old one for as long as it's still good, though my nifty letter did say it would be de-activated in the next 60 days to enable me to use the new, unasked for, one they sent me.

I prefer cash.
 
kathylove said:
"...It struck me that, over time, what would have been an offensive invasion of privacy to me/others 30 years ago....has...over time (as I said)...been diluted and buffered and seasoned and cooked and served...to be perfectly palatable and acceptable to some people..."

It seems that is how freedom is usually lost - one small step at a time. Whether it is the slow invasion of privacy, or the slow erosion of freedom to keep the pets you desire, we lobsters seem oblivious to the slowly rising temperature of the pot we are in, and probably won't notice until the water is already boiling.
Click to expand...

Well said... I look at the things going on south of the border and I shudder... Piece by piece the rights and freedoms of the people are being eroded and taken away... and the WORST thing about it is people are practically GIVING it away... GIving the government more power, and relinquishing their rights because of FEAR... fear of terrorists, of "puppy mills" of [insert other irrationals fear here] and people are so determined to be proven to be NOT one of those afore mentioned groups and be "good americans" they're happily serving up their rights on a platter...

Not that the problem is isolated to south of the border by any means, I just read an article yesterday about a lawsuit in Vancouver BC where baby's genetic "blood cards" were being sold to private companies and put into DNA record banks of private corporations. some 700 000 children have their DNA information neatly filed on record... Scary.


wilomn said:
I'd have to say it's boiling now.

Just 2 days ago I got a new debit card. It had one of those nifty RFD chips built in. Had I not read the fine print, or paid any attention at all to anything around me, I would not have known that.
Click to expand...

Up here in Canada we have new fancy RF chip enabled drivers licenses that are supposed to make it easier to cross the border. It has all your personal and private information filed in it, and they can scan it within several hundred meters of a border crossing to know you're coming to "pre clear" you so there's less hassle at the border... Yeah... and who else could get those scanners and pick up that information?????

Scary times... We have become a complacent society, where we take our rights so for granted that we don't even realize we're slowly giving away our freedoms...

PETA is a great example... all their "anti breeder" legislation... There used to be HUGE discussions on the dog forums about people that were so willing to allow government regulation on our breeding practices because they had "nothing to hide" and the only people that should be scared of those things are the ones that weren't doing it "right". And of course the "elite" those that breed purebred, registered, showable dogs were the ONLY ones that should have rights to breed... And calling someone a "puppy mill" was akin to saying someone was a devil worshipper... but in the end by condemning the mom and pop or backyard occasional breeder they're shooting themselves in the foot cause in the end those laws are aimed at making ANY breeding impossible or illegal...

They've got it right, play on peoples pride and they'll give anything away to preserve their "image"

*done rant*
 
I just saw an article on AOL news about some security company & someone else, forget who, that wanted to put GPS trackers on school children while they were in school. Didn't read the article as I was in a hurry, but off the top of my head I could see one or two situations where that might have been a good thing, & I can think of at least 20 where it could be abused. So I'd have to say "NO, THANKS!" to that idea.
 
I have a horrible feeling...

that the things we actually see or hear about are but a small tip of the iceberg. I think if we knew EVERYTHING that is going on "behind the scenes" we would be scared witless.

Yes - maybe I AM paranoid and see a conspiracy behind every tree. But I have lived long enough to see patterns and trends in the way society, power, and authority tends to work. And - sometimes they really ARE out to get you, lol!
 
This has been on the books for years! Don't be fooled, the RFID chips in your drivers license also enables cameras installed with readers to know who you are even if the picture is grainy, police with readers to see who's in the vehicles around them not just who the owner of the vehicle is by having to look up the plate, and when installed in bus stops, train depots, and airports, they can track your movements. Advertisers can use the info to target ads especially for you, yay! They are trying to get a law passed allowing the use of RFID tags injected into sex offenders, but what they don't say is that it will open the door to start injecting all types of criminals and then once it becomes common practice, you're next...
 
Maybe I'm completely off base, but I feel that the government has really taken backwards steps from being a government of the people. Having just turned 18 and now having the opportunity to vote, I feel lost. Everyone up for election that has any chance of winning does not really share my opinions.

It's gone from government of the people (if it in fact ever has been) to government of the elite. Sure anyone can run, but you haven't a snowflake's chance in hell of getting elected.

Why can't the people vote on their own laws rather than having the uppities do it for them? Virtually everyone has access to the internet now, surely there's something that can be done.

Sorry if anyone here is a politician. No attack intended, I just feel I have a right to have more say-so in the way this country is run.
 
*edit

Sure anyone can run, but you haven't a snowflake's chance in hell of getting elected unless you have the right connections, money, credentials, etc.
 
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