Tag Archives: linkedin

We Now Live in an Era of Institutionally Required Paranoia–And there’s no solution

Business, News, Technology, , , , , , ,
They found me, even though I live next door to the Unabomber
They found me, even though I live next door to the Unabomber

It was recently announced that hackers broke into three of the largest data brokers out there and stole millions of social security numbers, plus all sorts of other identification characteristics on people they track. Basically, what this means is that companies that track your information without your permission, or even without your knowledge, have had that information stolen from them, so all of your information is now in the hands of some very bad people who will use it to steal from you, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. So, have a nice day and please buy more products from random companies.

In case you were unaware of it, this sort of thing is happening more and more often. Even if you choose to remain completely off line and never even do anything that can cause anyone to try to steal from you, there are companies out there making it so that you’re already online and everything of yours online is pretty much open to someone breaking into it, EVEN IF IT’S NOT YOU THEY BREAK INTO. That’s the real scary thing because the way our capitalistic system works means that companies we’ve never done business with can now use your information, collect your information, trade with each other based on your information and pretty much put you into the poor farm by using your information.

A couple of months back, someone used my bank credit card to buy train tickets in France. I have no idea how they got a hold of my information, but I can tell you that when I dealt with my bank, I was very much put on the defensive, almost as if something I had done caused this sort of thing to happen. There was never any statement along the lines of “you know, maybe it was our fault.” Shortly after this, it was leaked that this bank suffered a huge data loss that resulted in accounts being compromised. Not once was a single comment made about that, although when it looked like maybe the mistake was on my part, the conversation was sure a lot different.

And that’s kind of the future that we have to look forward to. Credit monitoring companies maintain databases of massive volumes of information on each and every one of us. But if they lose some of that information, they MIGHT (usually if the government steps in and shames them) inform you. And they just might offer a free credit report to see how screwed you really are. If you were screwed because of their action, expect years of having to explain yourself as no one will ever believe you didn’t actually try to buy 10,000 units of widgets from St. Petersburg in the middle of the night while using your credit card to buy a bail bond for some criminal in Florida.

The real issue here is that so much information is available about people and no one seems to care that we’ve become products rather than the owners of this information. Just think about Facebook and LInkedIn. Both “services” are actually data brokers who believe they actually own your information and that your contribution is that you’re allowed to organize it for them so it’s easier to access. If you quit Facebook, your information stays there pretty much forever, no matter how much they say it won’t be. And if you never joined Facebook, your information somehow made it there any way, and they’re just basically waiting for you to acknowledge you’re who you are so they can start tracking you better and send you notices of things you should buy.

We’ve all become products who think we’re actually in control of ourselves, and that’s the real tragic thing. We haven’t been the owners of our own identities for a very long time now, and even now people don’t recognize that. Or when they do, they just sort of shrug and figure it’s too much of a hassle to bother with anyway. But when their identities are stolen, it’s usually too late, so we all play a reverse lottery game here in which we hope that nothing bad ever happens to us while we cast discerning eyes at thoese who do get their identities stolen. We’re good until it happens to us.

And then, like I said, it’s generally too late. But that’s okay. We have much more important things to pay attention to. Who has time for this sort of thing?

Why I Dumped the White House LinkedIn Group

News, Politics, , , , , ,

The other day, the President of the United States participated in a forum on the social networking site, LinkedIn. Having been a member of the White House LinkedIn group for a long time now, I observed the spectacle and didn’t think much of it. But then I posted another article to the White House group, which was subsequently ignored by the moderators and passed over as more “communication insiders” had theirs approved, asking the usual questions like “Is Obama Great or Just Wonderful” and other ridiculous tripe that is so one-sided it’s ridiculous. The article I posted was about the poor and political attention, which wasn’t partisan by any stretch of the imagination. But again, the impossibility of getting anyone to pay attention to a common person, like me, showed through.

So I finally decided I want nothing more to do with the White House or the President. As a matter of fact, I want nothing more to do with any politician who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about his or her constituents, except when it comes to getting their votes. I’m really sick of it. There are so many of us who are quite educated, with multiple ideas on how to fix the ails of this country, and getting heard is impossible. Basically, if you don’t have a lot of money to throw at a politician, no one wants to hear you.

So, from now on, no more memberships in groups that serve only to serve specific individuals who care pretty much only for themselves and pretend to care for the rest of us. This isn’t an anti-Obama thing, but an anti-politicians-who-don’t-give-a-crap-about-the-rest-of-us thing.

I left their group today, realizing I’d never make an impact anyway, considering the fact that even common comments are moderated and not included, so I thought I’d explain why. I figure no one cares, as was made clear in the fact that they never cared what I had to say before. However, don’t expect me to be a spokesperson, or a broadcast funnel for their ideas either.