Over the
past two decades I have been aware of the growing similarities between our
government and Orwell’s book 1984.
Especially since 9/11, with the advent of Homeland Security and the
collecting of U.S. citizen’s information from the telecom companies, the fact
we are being watched is being scantily hid.
Big Brother
is watching you, seemed to be the tool of any government’s ability to
manipulate the people.
But I had no
idea that corporate Big Uncle had tapped into that ability.
Last week on
Morning Joe (MSNBC morning news program) Joe Scarborough said he believed his
phone conversations had been monitored by telecoms and personal information had
been made available, or sold, to corporate interest.
Joe stated
that he has never been a runner, but recently decided to prepare himself to run
a marathon. He discussed this with
his fiancé on the phone. Immediately he
started getting advertisements for running shoes and equipment on his
phone. At first he didn’t pay much
attention; but in another conversation he told his fiancé he was setting his
goal to a nine-minute mile; almost immediately he got advertisements on his
phone about products to help men over forty run a nine-minute mile. He showed one of these advertisements on his
phone to the TV camera. Joe said he had
never discussed his decision to begin running with anyone except his fiancé,
and that he has never purchased running shoes, equipment, clothing or anything
connected with running.
The obvious
conclusion is that his private phone conversations are being monitored – if not
by a human, then at least by an algorithm designed to listen for certain words
or phrases and adjust advertising accordingly.
The truth
seems to be: if you have some information you wish to discuss privately, you
should hike naked into the densest most remote forest and then whisper it to
the party concerned… but then there are satellites…
Big Brother and corporate Big Uncle are both
watching you!
the
Ol’Buzzard
and nobody cares....
ReplyDeleteWell, that's unsettling, isn't it? Very 1984-ish, as you said.
ReplyDeleteI was also aware of this phenomenon early last year. Every time I talked to my brother about something I started getting advertisements for the very thing I discussed. It's even on the internet. Yeppers, we are being watched very closely.
ReplyDeleteWe've done it to ourselves. We keep seeing the stories about corporations engaging in data mining, we see the ads pop up for various products, so we all know we have no privacy on the Internet or with our phones, but we keep right on using the technology.
ReplyDeletewell, that's some scary shit.
ReplyDelete