you no longer have privacy

today i write to you about privacy... which is important to some for many reasons, some valid, some not, and some don't care at all.

in the end, whether you realize it or not, you have no privacy, you lost it a long time ago.

now, you may be able to keep tons of secrets from the people in your world, but really, they probably aren't looking.

let's face it, most people are too lazy to follow another person around to really figure out their secrets, your friends will give up on you if they think you're shady and if you are that shady your family realized it a long time ago and probably do everything they can to hide your secrets for you so they can act like they are oblivious and keep the family Christmas on track.

BUT - on some level, what i'm about to tell you still applies.

when i mention privacy, first people think about themselves and what would embarrass them.  and sure, it would be bad to get caught sleeping around or stealing, but that's really just the tip of the iceberg.  the rant your daughter spews out about how you invaded her privacy by listening in while she talked to Cindy about how she totally wants to get with Johnny, but she doesn't want to break up with Steve, sure, that's a valid claim on privacy, but really, that is the least of your family's problems.

eventually, your daughter will be caught being the filthy tramp she is... don't worry.  sure she will be friendless, and you will regret not putting your foot down years ago when she used privacy as her loophole to a life of immaturity, but in the future your bigger problem will be larger than whatever lies you have to use to enable her behavior and keep the family vacation together.

because privacy isn't completely about immature behavior, or how embarrassed you are by someone else.  because embarrassment is only half the problem.

yes, the odds are good she is going to have trouble finding a job when the potential new employer finds out she used her last job as a dating pool... and yes, that is embarrassing.

but it can be even worse.

as you show up to the therapy session your family needs to deal with the latest set of drama, there are cameras everywhere.  and those cameras will recognize who you are.

you think i'm kidding, but i'm not. (for proof, check out the first link at the bottom)

security and surveillance system are doing much more than providing your daughter's coworkers with video of the drunken strip-tease she thought she was only doing with the man she just met at the company retreat and is totally in love with.

sure, also embarrassing, but again only half the problem.

because when the man she's totally in love with realizes she's crazy and dumps her like every other guy and you end up dragging her to therapy the systems there to protect you will then SELL YOU OUT...

and not to the local tabloid, because no one cares about her continued nonsense, she may think she's a rock star, but she's not.

no, you'll be sold out to a marketing firm, who then takes your data and logs it as a face that was showing up every Tuesday and Thursday at 3pm with your husband and daughter and going into Suite 245, which address records show as Dr. Crazypeople.  they will then start to market to you and your family things that typically market to people with your kind of crazy needs.

with that, they relay this information to your health insurance company (even though you paid cash to keep your privacy)... who proceeds to raise your rates because they have proof of a family history of irrational behavior and mental illness.

when you get the letter and look at your spouse and wonder how two people that lead a completely boring life could get accused of such things, you will want to sue someone for the invasion of your privacy.

but you can't.

over time, your face is seen by more security cameras... when you stop by a car dealership to pick up a friend, or when you eat fast food, and all of that is logged.  suddenly it could impact your credit report, and cause you to get mail about pre-planning funerals while you're still in your 50s.

and maybe - just maybe - you think you're someone who's avoided the problem.  you think you're above it, you're not on Facebook, you don't really do email, and you shy away from those crazy interwebs.

it doesn't matter.

first, your daughter has undoubtedly already posted pictures of you online.  from MySpace to Facebook to Instagram (owned by Facebook) and the old reliable Twitter, anything from her pic with you as she leaves to go to prom, and your relieved face in the pic she posted after her extensive stint in college.  and maybe, it's not even her fault.  pictures are probably online of you from a company event, a charity function, a softball league, or something as innocent as your local church.

that picture identifies you, then that face is matched to the security cameras and suddenly the machine has you.

and aside from the cameras, other random things like your information from the auto club or your purchase history with your credit card sold you out.  in fact, a recent article (link below) from Wired magazine mentions that those who don't have a social presence online probably have a 'Shadow Profile', a profile for you with them so they can have a placeholder for you while they data mine your information.

PLUS - technology is in place to start taking pictures of you and guess at what you'll look like in the future, so the Shadow Profiles can match you in case you happen to drop out of site for a while.  (to test that, there's a link below).

government?  sure there is a valid concern from the conspiracy freaks about government abusing this power as well... but really, you need to decide if you want higher mortgage rates and being added to a no-fly list over your daughter's need for therapy.

those days are coming... in the last link i've posted below, an Italian speaker at a TED Talk goes over the same information i've mentioned here.  he's got a VERY thick accent, and can be difficult to listen to at times, but he points out that the 2002 film Minority Report showed the lead character walking through a mall where all the nearby advertising was targeted at him.  and the technology to make that happen is already well under development, and we have been more than happy to provide the needed data.

on some level, you should be angry at yourself for not setting your daughter straight because her problems are about to become yours.  but really, we should all have a larger concern.  i have the same first and last name as my father, and a confusion in records could cause ME to start getting marketing (and pricing, and limitations) meant for him.  on some level, this has already happened... in my attempt to get smoking cessation medication, it was improperly processed as his at first, and rejected due to his age, even though the prescription was for me.

and even now i'm typing this, and i've told the planet that i have smoked a cigarette - soon the computers will log this information and i will forever be branded.

think about that, if you've ever used a credit card to buy cigarettes, that has been recorded, as was your face on the security cameras.  they may not have been for you, but now the world knows - the machine knows.

and while many feel they've avoided these problems, led clean lives, no crazy kids, and don't use the internet except for company email... don't be fooled.  every email system out there scans your email 'to improve system performance', and every cell phone logs your location - it has to, for your safety, by federal law.

so - many people will read this and think they can't control it and don't care what happens as long as their personal day to day life isn't impacted (basically, they are still only going to care if they get embarrassed).  well, realize that people are buying this information, some of it is freely available and some is available to anyone willing to pay for it... so really, it's only a matter of time until you're embarrassed.

HOW DO WE SOLVE THIS PROBLEM?

we can't unless we become aware.  this is going to happen, and unless your plan is to live alone on an island, this future is on some level unstoppable.  you can forever live in your own private bliss by telling yourself that your daughter isn't the troubled person everyone else thinks she is, but that wouldn't have stopped the gossips from talking about her behavior before the internet, and it's not going to stop the machine from doing what it does now.  personal privacy about personal issues will start to infect your life, and the simple will have the potential to spin into the complex.

current legislation worldwide effectively ignores the potential problem to consumers and each person's sanity, and most people are so completely unaware of the problem they don't know to start complaining.

we live in a society where most feel helpless against technology, and many do not question what's pushing them around.  let's face it, when your daughter doesn't show up to a family brunch and claims she was too busy doing something else, you're not going to go through the trouble of looking through all the security cameras possible to find out she slept in at some random guy's place.  you'd rather not be disappointed in her and deal with that... but the same does not apply to the machine.  and like your daughter, the machine will start pushing you around.

and worse, millenials have less of an expectation of privacy, and the machine knows, it's logging as much as it can, and it knows that you won't have the guts to ask your kids if they use Instagram or Facebook, and see what they post... even though they've probably posted pictures of you.

so sure, the best advice i can give you is to lead a clean life, pay your bills, don't buy cigarettes in the seedy part of town... and yeah, probably set your daughter straight early in life.  but really, we all need to be aware of what's going on around us.

if you don't believe this is already happening, go online and search for some random type of product.  search for 'new pizza oven' or 'golf equipment'... then watch the ads on various websites you visit start to target you with italian food and golf resorts.  this very basic web technology is the start, and the future will be decided by the machine as it tells you what you wanted, helps sell you more, and also limits you based on what it thinks is your past.


click here for information about facial recognition available today

the Wired article that mentions 'Shadow Profiles'

this website will formulate your future appearance

here's an article about Facebook using your phone to target you

click here to watch a video from a more informed person than i about this topic