BBC recently posted a video titled “Britain seen from the skies above” and while it was fascinating simply to watch, to think about it really gave us a new perspective on privacy. It’s a real short clip, about a minute, so take a look and you’ll see what we mean:
Everybody is concerned about privacy online yet not many pay attention to privacy elsewhere. People are being tracked all over the place as the video clearly shows. Credit card companies track where you use your card and similarly, banks do the same with debit cards and personal checks. Phone companies are easily able to track your position as well. These are just a few examples of the many ways that we are “tracked” regularly which shows us that our “private” lives aren’t so private after all.
Source: jkOnTheRun
That’s a great visual representation of how little privacy we actually have in the information age.
This is very much why I refuse to use debit/credit cards except in such situations which mandate them, why I’m a big FOSS advocate, and why I am a big security/privacy nut.
The US and UK are very much becoming surveillance societies. The technologies which we develop to liberate ourselves (Internet, cell phones, etc.), because of our lack of foresight for the externalities of our decisions, ultimately enslave us.
Simple example being the adoption of the cell phone whose intended purpose was to make communication with others easier, quicker, and more convenient. Today cell phones are used as tools by the government to spy on it’s citizens, both through position triangulation and tapping into communications, whether the phone is turned on or off.
The planet is so overpopulated. Humans are just like a virus. Agent Smith was dead on
This is load analysis, not “tracking.” If anything, it lowers the cost and increases the efficiency of adapting the infrastructure to changing needs. Urban planning and associated civil engineering do exactly this sort of thing all the time. It happens at any grocery store. The systems need to be monitored to determine where and under which circumstances peak use happen. Load analysis is used all the time for countless things. Does the grocery store just “happen” to have food when you want it or do they monitor the sales and plan accordingly? Hmmm…
@curtissthompson, methinks you’re post is overly paranoid. ALL telecom uses load analysis. ALL telecom can be monitored at will. Geolocation in cell phones is part of that load analysis (you DO know they’re just low-power radios, don’t you? Repeaters and switches are installed as the load changes.) and they’re used by emergency responders to get to a crisis location. If you’re in a car wreck and only have enough energy to dial 911, the “spies” you decry will show up quicker than waiting for a random passerby. I’ve used my cell phone and 911 to follow very drunk drivers and help vector the police to pick them up before they cause a wreck. Efficiency and safety, some conspiracy!
The BBC program is on this Sunday. I certainly will be watching it, it looks fascinating. Yep I will be glued to the screen then. Yes Micheal the UK is dreadfully over crowded. The need for building land is excessive and land prices are through the roof!! No green space is safe these days and the pressures on wildlife are even greater.
Tony
My thought process with this whole this is, what is a credit card really going to do with the information they have about my spending habits? Nothing much, so I’m okay with the idea that they know where I go to spend my money. These days it’s just the gas station and grocery store anyways.
I also like to take advantage of the cash back program my credit card offers — I charge everything possible and pay it all off every month so I end up making money off of the credit card company through the rewards program instead of them making money off of me. There’s nothing like getting free money!
Credit card companies profile each cardholder’s habits and flag things which are too far out of the norm. They also monitor where transactions are happening. I was in Montreal a few years ago when the High School kids were mass counterfeiting their $100 bills and couldn’t use my card even though I’ve used it in most of Western Europe without any problem and no advance notice. My Dad got a call on his cell phone a couple of years ago from a card company because a lot of charges were being made against the card. It had been stolen by people at a restaurant he’d just visited. The charges didn’t match his profile and the credit card company was able to direct the police to catch the thieves as they were using the card. FWIW: That capability only became available in the Patriot Act. How many criminals have been caught primarily because they were using stolen cards? Interconnectivity of databases also makes it a lot easier to dead beats such as Dads who won’t pay child support and move to another state. Before credit cards were available you’d have to carry some form of negotiable bond. If you were a traveler or looked like one, you were far more likely to be robbed or worse. It wasn’t uncommon for people to carry pistols because of the cash they carried. You’re absolutely correct, treat credit cards as cash substitutes, not convenience loans, and they’re a fantastic tool.
That’s what we’ve done since we got our very first credit card, and let me tell ya, it works out well!
You also make a good point with using data to prevent fraud. At one point someone bought train tickets in Rome with our credit card. We got our money back, but it’s always nice to have the bank trying to prevent things like that from happening.