Big Brother is Alive and Well in America

Big Brother is alive and well in America. Americans volunteered to be followed, recorded, and, yes, monitored by the government - oh I mean technology. Well ... both.

Don't get me wrong, I love technology and I love my country.

I love America for the freedom we enjoy, the freedom we understand to be our birthright as Americans. Among those freedoms, the freedom to come and go as we please. We can go anywhere in our vast country without notifying any officials or gaining permission from anyone at all. We have freedom of speech far greater than almost any other country in the world. I can freely express my disagreement, disapproval and even disgust with the government.

I embrace the world wide web -- mainly doing business online and being able to find out almost anything I want to know in minutes. I think the internet has changed the world at least as much as the printing press did, when Gutenberg printed that first Bible. Before Gutenberg's innovative moveable type system, monks literally copied the Bible over and over by hand. Imagine! This was cutting edge technology in the 1400s.

Today, in 2013, people blithely place their personal information online at an alarming rate. I don't participate in most social media, I never got the point. I don't want to be subjected to all those inane updates. I'm guessing that many people don't know that their whereabouts can be easily tracked through their facebook posts. According to blogger David A.Desrosiers' blog posted on January 13, -

"Yes, they’ve done it again silently sending GPS coordinates with every message...

The most-recent update of the Facebook mobile application (Android and iPhone) reverses and resets the default settings for “Location Services”, so that every single Facebook message you send, also sends your exact GPS coordinates to the recipient (and to Facebook’s own messaging servers), even if you have your GPS disabled on your phone. When the GPS is disabled, they fall back to AGPS to determine your coordinates with incredible accuracy. ... This is so specific, it actually revealed that I was in my kitchen (in the rear of my house), and not just my approximate street address on my road. Zooming into the map they helpfully provide, shows where inside my house my phone is when I sent the test messages that revealed this issue. "

And rumor has it that facebook is getting ready to release a find friends app that uses GPS to locate friends nearby. A Huffington Post article, posted April 4 -

No One Wants A Facebook App To Track Their Movements

Watch out, Facebook could soon be watching you ... even more than it already is.

Facebook is reportedly planning to release a tracking app that will help users find friends nearby, two people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg. The app would run even while Facebook is not being used on one's phone, allowing Facebook to track users' whereabouts and sell ads based on that information.

Facebook Is Said to Create Mobile Location-Tracking App

By Douglas MacMillan - Feb 5, 2013 12:01 AM ET

What's in Facebook's New Location Tracker?

Facebook is developing a smartphone application that will track the location of users, two people with knowledge of the matter said, bolstering efforts to benefit from growing use of social media on mobile computers.



The app, scheduled for release by mid-March, is designed to help users find nearby friends and would run even when the program isn’t open on a handset, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.
Facebook is adding features to help it profit from the surging portion of its more than 1 billion users who access the service via handheld devices. The tracking app could help Facebook sell ads based on users’ whereabouts and daily habits. It may also raise the hackles of consumers and privacy advocates concerned about the company’s handling of personal information.

Regulators in the U.S. and Europe  have already scrutinized Menlo Park, California-based Facebook amid concerns that it doesn’t do enough to keep data private. Apple Inc. and Google, Inc. have similar tools for continuously keeping tabs on user whereabouts.

Both of these articles referenced may be referring to the same app. I don't know. I can't test them. Not only do I not have a Facebook account, I also do not have a smart phone. In fact, I don't have any kind of cell phone. I love it. I realize I am an outlier. I am a minority. Only 13% of U.S. adults do not have a cell phone. I am amazed that so many people, who lived their entire lives without this technology became so enamored with constant contact in such a short time.

And, so what, you say. Why should I care if I am watched, recorded, and monitored? Not to display my personal paranoia, but what if somebody is watching you. What if someone who means to harm you knows every move you make? Why give them the tools? What if our government, which depending on your world view, is reasonably benevolent, or considerably diabolical decided to restrict your movements? Would you give up your cell phone and facebook?

It is common knowledge that employers and law enforcement will look up your profile if they have a need. What about someone who wants to rob you? Or do you even worse harm? Do you knowingly invite them into your life due to your my life is an open book approach to technology? Do you let the world know all about you, just because we have the means to do it? I don't.

Big Brother can leave me alone.How about you, is Big Brother welcome in your life?