Tuesday 16 July 2013

Cross Hatch


I have just listened to a few terrifying snippets of a report on how modern technology is creating a 'Big Brother' environment that even George Orwell would not have believed we would sign up to.

Do you have, or have you ever played the game, 'Angry Birds' on your phone? I have played it on someone else's smart-phone - years ago - and I thought it seemed very amusing, innocent and charming, but I never read the small-print that goes with the agreement to download it.

A game for free? Where's the catch? Hiding inside the game, that's where.

Like all the other free apps that everyone thoughtlessly sticks into the guts of their phones, Angry Birds is bristling with hidden technology that automatically sends your retail preferences and habits to subscribing businesses, and when you thoughtlessly tick the 'agree' box when downloading most of these things, you are also often unwittingly allowing them to even access your email account so you can be sent advertisements by the subscribers who paid for your free app.

This is just games and apps alone - the amount of personal information knowingly sent out by subscribers to Facebook makes me cringe with apprehension for the future. Most of the apps which conveniently tell you the nearest location of your favourite hamburger vendor, also tell the vendor where you are when you look for it - as well as your preferences with regard to cheese, fries, etc. Many of them will even give out information about your post-code, and there is a lot of information regarding your financial status contained within those few letters and numbers - most of it inaccurate, but sold as valuable information nevertheless.

I am holding out as long as possible with using a simple phone which does nothing but make and receive calls and SMS messages offline, but I don't know how long that can last before I am forced to get a phone which is too clever for my own good.

It is already too late though, because even though this particular Google account is held under a false name, they know exactly how to find out my real one (they already have), simply because it is virtually impossible to run a computer and emails without giving it away, if you want to lead any kind of normal, non-paranoid life.

I think it is true to say that the U.K. is the most enthusiastic nation on earth when sleep-walking into the shadowy world of CCTV cameras and electronic surveillance. We also have the highest rate of bankers who earn over £1000,000 in bonuses for non performance-related activities - around 2000, compared to the next country down, Germany, at around 120. I wonder if there is a cultural connection?

16 comments:

  1. Tom you absolutely correct. People are being spied upon 24x7 every day of their lives - due to the paranoia of the governments.

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    1. I think it is more to do with the vice-like grip that commerce has on the world of the internet, and everywhere else.

      I wish our government(s) had not sacked about half of their foreign office staff - we could do with some experienced spies right now.

      They let the U.S.A take over half of GCHQ about 10 years ago now, and it's those spooks that I worry about more than our shithead government. Those spooks are looking after the interest of the US, and the interests of the US government hinge mainly - actually ENTIRELY - on U.S. commerce.

      Before any outraged Americans start banging on about terrorists, it is - without doubt - the West's obsession with the internal combustion engine and the oil it takes to keep them going (as well as plastics) that has spawned about three generations of 'Islami'c terrorists so far.

      The idiots are kicking off again in Northern Ireland (after the U.S stopped funding the IRA through NORAID), but these Protestant drunkards do not need any intelligence units to monitor them. There is no 'intelligence' involved.

      We are being sucked DRY by the banker's backers. It's as simple as that. They do not give a flying-fuck about any 'freedom' ethics.

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  2. My supermarket 'Loyalty Cards' were supposed to analyse my spending preferences, then make tempting offers by mail or Email. This never happened.

    However, since I recently searched the web for pool 'Robot Cleaners', I now find ad's popping up on almost every page I google, on Facebook, even on my weather page, etc.

    I suppose they've got me!

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    1. That's funny - I get adverts for lonely women over the age of fifty in the Bristol area.

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    2. When I say "in the Bristol area", I am talking about the city, not a pair of them.

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  3. I questioned Edward Snowdon's outrage with NSA; Google already knows everything.

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    1. The U.S. government do seem to like to make examples of anyone who blows whistles, don't they? Never mind about extradition treaties, there's always 'special rendition'.

      I am beginning to sound anti-American, but in fact, I am just anti global carve-up, especially when it is at the expense of starving people.

      It is a bit like the fact that you are not allowed to criticise the Israeli government for their 'foreign' policy to ancient land-owners without being called an anti-Semite.

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  4. Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you.
    I used to giggle at that saying as a stoner teen but it seems more and more pertinent these days.

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    1. I apply the same maxim to myself on a daily basis, Sarah.

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  5. The farmer and I were talking along these lines as we sat in a hospital waiting room today Tom. In spite of a large notice saying folk must turn off their phones because they interfered with hospital equipment, three went off while we were there and the three culprits seemed to need to read the texts before they switched off.
    And Cro is right - once you muy something or even just look at it on line - they (whoever they are) bombard you with stuff for ever.
    But we can't live down a hole, can we?

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    1. I might end up down a hole, the way things are going, Weave.

      The telephones in hospitals thing is now to do with bad manners. Most cardiac machines are no more detrimentally effected by mobiles than petrol pumps, although I am much more likely to have a heart-attack if I am forced to listen to a phone-call right next to me in bed than spontaniously combust.

      Maybe both?

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  6. I've just got my first smartphone and I'm still not convinced it was a good move. The thing's far too clever for its own good and seems to have a different logic from my computer. I can't imagine needing to read emails, let alone facebook inanities, before I get home, and the times I need the internet on a tiny screen will be very limited. You can still get phones designed for old ladies which make calls and send texts like my old one. Should have got one of those.

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    1. Well I know what you mean, Marianne, but I have - so far - resisted the lure of a smart phone, so I am not really qualified to comment on you getting one, other than what I have already said.

      If I lived on a boat or in a caravan, then I would certainly get one, but having a flipping great iMac at home means that - unless I really cannot wait for emails or Wikipedia, and not wanting to watch feature films on a 3 inch screen - I don't think I need one. I don't think 90% of most other people need one either, but - what the heck - they have to make their money somehow.

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    2. Snap - I have an iMac too !
      My first mac was a Graphite OS9 upgraded to OSX now retired live up in the attic.

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    3. I had a 'toilet seat' early laptop which I upgraded to OSX, using up all but about 3 MB of it's tiny little head. It was ok for emails, but that was it. I sold it as a collector's item for the same as I paid for it - about £30. Then I spent about £1000 on this one - quite a difference.

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  7. Yes, i've noticed those targeted ads. I've been having to do research on cancer trials for work, and it's crazy the adverts that pop up for me. A few years back, i needed more information about insuling pumps, and i got all kinds of ads about diabetes prevention, good price for pumps, and diabetic supplies.

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