Privacy Revisited

For the average American citizen, the notion of privacy is extinct. Any information you put out into cyberspace could come back to bite you in the ass. Retail stores sell your purchase history to third parties without your consent. Social media sites and search engines act as data mines, storing information that could later be accessed by the government and used against you in court.

The Feds have no problem letting companies collect and exploit our personal information because it makes running a surveillance state that much easier to do. Whenever the government wants to find out what weird shit you're up to on the Internet, guess what ­they¹re going to find out? You can thank Google, Facebook, Walmart and all the other megacorps for that.

Be alert: Big Brother is watching you.

 

Comments

[hans dee]

01:26 AM on 08/26/2011

Shaw Capital Management Warning

If you just are careful when handling your personal information, especially when using social media sites, I guess there is nothing to fear. Choose people you only associate with; never rush to have more people know you – you might meet crooks.

[HelloFunnyWorld]

03:44 PM on 08/22/2011

Hello Mr.Flint ~

Thanks for writing, connecting the dots.....
And is'nt it funny eh..... how Sex has suddenly become so yesterday, so passe and your magazine (which we had'nt heard about till way late in life :) lol) is just another thing to read - look at ?? -
now that Everyone is so focused on the Money Industry & our Monetary Systems which is connected and related to the Invasion of our Privacy....??

For your observation to be effective however, you'll have to keep making this same point over & over again, for most Folk to get that - Nowadays - Policy & Public Affairs do not happen in a vacuum but rather through the constant monitoring of People's Privacy. And all of which is very much connected to Democracy & Politics and.... the Quality of Their Daily Lives!!!!

Rogue elements among our lovely Elites have absolutely run amok with white collar crimes and white collar criminals while - strangely - Education every where has been dumbed down.

Some Moms

[I try to be reasonable]

05:58 PM on 08/21/2011

The Internet will be the new god, our new religion. If you believe that one of religion's primary functions was to ensure better behavior from its adherents by fearing that (an) omnipresent being(s) was watching, then the Internet will now serve that function. We need not to worry about a god seeing us covet our neighbor or commit adultery - we have the internet to prove we solicited sex on craigslist or sent nude pictures to a lover. If earlier you feared what a god might think of murder, you might now reconsider that google search into how to commit the perfect murder, or seeking murder-for-hire on Facebook (that happened!).

Also, maybe people's porn-viewing habits will change when they realize it can publicly be known what they're looking at... ;-)

[ehjay]

01:44 PM on 08/21/2011

You're right Larry but your reputation causes your opinion to be dismissed. It is a Big Brother America now and everything sent into cyberspace lives on -- somewhere. Facebook, Cloud, are simply data assembly points that make it easier for Big Brother to update your dossier and track you if they choose to. The public is very passive about it but these things would not have been accepted 2-3 generations ago. Today people prefer to accept other opinion than to develop their own. A Big Brother world is the least of the people's problems right now. Putting food on the table and a roof over their family is the first priority for 10s of millions of Americans. Only the wealthy can make mental forays into frivilous subjects.

[hornedcog]

11:49 AM on 08/21/2011

We must use this to our advantage by creating "hubs" with identity filters. Also, if we organize and manipulate their perceptions of us, we might even the field.

[see-ellen2001]

04:52 AM on 08/21/2011

Is there a reason HP includes this drivel? A grade two student could write it better. I guess Mr. Flynt didn't read much growing up....he only looked at the pictures.

[FilthyHarry]

03:12 AM on 08/21/2011

Stephen Hawking is right!

[ehjay]

01:45 PM on 08/21/2011

Prove It !!

[izekman]

02:15 AM on 08/21/2011

Be good or else.

[Blue hills]

02:44 PM on 08/20/2011

Privacy? Don't leave home and don't communicate - that's the only way to ensure privacy.

[BeautifulWorld]

01:51 AM on 09/21/2011

Introverts are truly wise.

[Si1ver1ock]

08:44 AM on 08/17/2011

In addition to tapping and tracking your cell phone they can remotely activate it and listen in.

[zenju2]

08:38 AM on 08/17/2011

Did your voice and accent really change, like Woody Harrelson's did in the movie?

[meeljefe]

05:25 AM on 08/17/2011

Its like ciggaretes, everyone knows they are bad for you and have for years before anyone admited. The goverment is watching, they have to to experience real joy. Poor people make the world go round! They hate us for our freedoms! A man who learns to live without money will be a rich man.

[SitandStay]

05:02 AM on 08/17/2011

Any photo copy also has a code in the print that will refer an authority back to the copy machine owner.

[loncowber]

02:15 AM on 08/17/2011

I can't believe how many people here are so quick to wad up liberty and toss it nonchalantly toward the trash can. No wonder it is dying...

[realitytrumpsbull]

02:12 AM on 08/17/2011

Yep, the world wide web has come alive, but Larry missed the mark by a wee tad, it's not just The Government snooping your emails, going through your browser history or Facebook postings, it's the Whole World. Yep. So, now you've got private parties in this country, foreign governments, private parties in foreign countries, pretty much anyone with an internet connection and the skills(hackers) to do the magical datamining, can tell just what you've been up to. China's got more internet users, than we've got citizens. Worldwide, there must be close to 1/2 billion, maybe more. There's that many cellphone users. We are an interconnected lot now, we humans.  The whole world's watching. You. No pressure.