Purchasing our own chains.

[MadHound]

I share with most of you here a rising dread concerning how corporations and our government are getting into our personal lives. People bemoan the loss of the Fourth Amendment, the loss of privacy in our country, the loss of personal space.

But what amazes me is that the people in this country actually purchase the means that are used to destroy their privacy.

Cell phones, OnStar, new cars with computers that store your recent travel info. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and dozens of other social networking sites that retailers use to track your personal habits and friends. Those swipe cards that "give a great deal" at grocery stores, never mind that they store all your purchases. Of course iTunes, the Kindle, and other such technology stores your selections of music and books, among other preferences. And let's not forget the large elephant in the room, credit cards.

In our cities and suburbs, malls and backyards, we scream for security, so more and more cameras are put in as a response. We purchase, and install security systems that not only keep track of who is doing what outside of your house, but also who is in which room inside your house.

The fact is, many Americans have purchased the chains with which they're bound. They have traded away their privacy for the illusion of security, or for convenience, or simply to have the latest doo-dad. They have bought the means of enabling this police state, and don't think a thing about it. The prevailing idea seems to be that if you aren't doing anything wrong, then you've nothing to worry about.

Don't think that this information isn't shared, we've already seen that corporations are all too willing to share this information that they've gleaned with various government agencies.

Can this trend be reversed, sure, but it is doubtful that will happen. Too many people are like crows, fascinated, and must have, the latest bright and shiny things. They want the latest and greatest, and apparently don't give a damn about their privacy.

So kiss the Fourth Amendment good bye, let us hold a fine wake for it, because it is dead and gone, and it is we who have killed it. We have bought our own chains.

[Shagbark Hickory]

1. Did the corporations force you to do something?

I can understand that many people (myself included) are annoyed by the fact there is a lot of surveillance of consumers by corporations, but what exactly do you think will come of it if my credit card company told the government what stores I've been shopping at? Why the hell do they care?

They've got bigger fish to fry. They're busy looking for WMD.

If the government wants to locate you for some particular reason, chances are there is a good reason for it and chances are they will find you.

The thing that puzzles me the most is facebook. I've been trying for years to get unpublished from various public record directories.

[MadHound]

2. No, corporations don't force, they persuade, cajole, sell you on the idea that you have to buy

Fifteen years ago, cell phones were novelties, now they are "must have" necessities. The black boxes inside cars, they don't even consult the consumer before putting it in. Credit cards, well that's a story too long to tell here.

The thing is, it is attitudes like yours that have allowed this to happen, that whole, "it's no big deal" attitude. And your faith that the government has good intentions is touching, but misplaced.

But hey, keep on buying your own chains, just don't be surprised when they are used to bind you.

[MineralMan]

5. Just say no...

For pete's sake. Ignore them and live your life.

Or are you concerned about those less intelligent than you and what they're "forced" to do?

[Shagbark Hickory]

6. Maybe you can pursuade or cajole me to understand why this is a problem.

This is America.
Land of Buy and sell shit you don't need to people who don't need it.

There are many countries where mobile phones are used where there is no 4th ammendment.
They're all doing just fine.

When corporations start selling Android-powered, GPS brain implant chips, that will probably raise some red flags.
The rest of it is largely personally unidentifiable information.

You disclose more sensitive information when you order a box of checks or take up employment at walmart than you do by owning a mobile phone.

[Uben]

3. You're right, they are purchased......

....and each individual must ascertain how much of their freedom they are willing to cede for comfort and convenience. I don't do social networking at all. No facebook, no MySpace, nuttin! I have OnStar in one vehicle but have never subscribed to their service. My cell phone makes calls only. Texting is disabled, no camera, no internet access. It's a phone!

The firewall on my computer is customized to allow only what I want access. I have one credit card with a $500 limit for use on the internet. I do not use the auto fill-in program for passwords and I never check the box that asks if I want to keep logged in.

I try my best to keep my info as private as I can. That's about all one can do. Even so, I am aware that I am still vulnerable.
But, I factor in the exponential number of internet users that don't take as much care as I do to protect myself, and that makes me a less desirable target than millions of others, so I get some solace in that fact!

[MineralMan]

4. It's all a bargain, isn't it?

Cell phones let us maintain contact, wherever we are. I carry one, but use it only for emergencies, especially when I'm fishing alone in my boat or am driving in a winter storm. OnStar knows if you have an accident and notifies authorities of your exact location. That can save precious time. Lock your keys out of the car? OnStar will open the door for you. Car stolen? OnStar knows where it went. Yes, they can know where you are, but that's not a big problem for most people, really. Social media makes it possible to stay in touch with as many people as you like, just by reading what they post. I've contacted old friends from decades ago, and am enjoying the rekindled friendship. I'm really careful with whom I communicate there, though, and avoid all those data mining apps. I have a Kindle, but will almost certainly never buy any books from Amazon for it. I use it to read books that are very hard to find in libraries, and I get them from the Gutenberg Project. The wireless connectivity thing is off all the time. I just finished a book on organ-building written in 1915. Pipe organs have long been an interest of mine, but that book has been almost impossible to obtain until now.

Security cameras? I don't care. Anyone can see me when I'm in public. What I do in public is boring in the extreme. I have no security system on my house. I lock my doors, and am armed, should someone attempt to break in. My house is small, so I can be sure to be able to find my wife, no matter where she is in the house, within 30 seconds. "Hey, honey? Where are you?" works every time.

All those things are only chains if you let them bind you. For me, they're all tools that have enriched my life in some way or made my life safer. If they didn't, I wouldn't have them. They're chains if they bind you. If they don't, they're tools.

It's a bargain. You can get all that stuff if it makes sense for you, or not, if you feel it's an invasion of your privacy. All but the security cameras. Nobody's following you around with them, though, because you're really not all that interesting.

Don't like that stuff? Don't have it. Unchain yourself. Don't assume, however, that people don't find such things useful in their lives.

[Uben]

7. Not so much chains......

...as exposure. The more one is exposed, the more the likelihood of a security breach. The biggest threat to most is identity theft. But for most, they feel this is a minute threat because they don't have that much to lose and believe any thief will go for the big bucks instead of them. However, there are other threats that mine for information that can be used to their advantage, and they are out there 24/7/365. It's nearly impossible to completely insulate yourself because merchants, the government, and friends have information on you that can be accessed if they are not taking the same precautions, and we know most do not.

[MineralMan]

8. True enough. It's pretty tough not to be tracked these days.

Few people are prepared to live on a cash basis, so pretty much every transaction you make is recorded and can be mined. It's part of 21st century life, I suppose. I ignore it, take sensible precautions against identity theft, and get on with it. This idea that we buy our own chains is some sort of libertarian fantasy horror story.

[Uben]

9. Ha! You sound a lot like myself

My cell phone gets used very little. Basically, it's for communication with my wife when I'm out on the lake fishing or going to town to get stuff. Only three people even know the number, my wife, my daughter, and my best friend. It did come in handy when I broke a leg on my HArley. I didn't go down, but twisted my knee in such a way that it split the tibia from the knee down about two inches. I had no idea it was broken, I just figured I trashed my knee. It was nice being able to call my wife immediately, although I had several people stop and ask if I needed assistance.

[MineralMan]

10. I don't even know my cell phone number. It's off all the time,

unless I want to make a call. It's a cheap tracfone. I keep buying time, but never use the minutes. I have something like 1700 minutes available. :rofl:

You reminded me, though, that I only have a couple of days left. I went to the site and added another year, but just 60 more minutes. They gave me 120, so I have over 1800 minutes now. Uff da! I'll never use them. Either that, or I'll get a headset for the phone and use it to talk to my parents. I hate holding cell phones.

[Skidmore]

11. Yay! another member of the tracfone high minute club.

I turn mine on when I travel into town on errands in the wintertime when the weather is bad and when we travel to our daughter's house a couple of times a year. Otherwise, it is off. I have some thing like 1900 minutes on it and it's almost time to buy for the next year. I don't know my phone number either without turning the darned thing on to check.

[MineralMan]

13. Here's a tip to save money with the Tracfone.

When you add minutes on their website, choose the 30 day 30 minute option. It's $10. Then, in the next screen, you can add a year of time for just $50. That's a lot cheaper than their 1 year/400 minute option and gives you 13 months for about $60. That's less than $5/month, which seems about right for a phone I don't use.

Anyhow, I just checked my wife's office. She has a cell phone headset, so I'm going to call my parents for the normal Sunday call and use up about 30 of those minutes. Yay!

[Skidmore]

14. Thank you

[Uben]

12. Yep! Exactly like me!

I've got a pay as you go plan but I have to purchase $15/mo. My balance tops out at $500, and it's been there for years! I use a lot of it in those call-in fund drives for catastrophes (think Katrina and the Haiti earthquake)cuz I'll never use up those minutes.

And I don't know my number, either! If someone asks for it, I just call their cell phone so they can have the number. Why remember a number you never call?