Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Thanks for What? A Thanksgiving Observation.
With cell phones we can call anyone anytime from anywhere. But we can also be called by anyone anytime from anywhere. You can argue that we can always turn the damned things off when too many creditors insist on calling at inopportune times to collect overdue payments, but then we run the chance of missing out on that job offer that will double our pay. GPS lets us be located anywhere on earth, but who wants to be located all the time everywhere? RFID devices make life easier for inventory managers but when embedded in official items such as drivers’ licenses or under one’s skin for security purposes, we can potentially be tracked through every doorway we enter or exit. The ubiquitous card readers at gas pumps are certainly convenient, but those records not only can be used for billing us quickly and efficiently, they can be used to track us as we travel anywhere. Credit checks can now be done in 30 seconds or less. Remember that house payment that was late three years ago when you went on vacation and didn’t get back in time to mail it in on time? That might also pop up in 30 seconds or less. Caller ID not only lets you see who is calling before you answer the phone, who you call can also see that you are calling them. Google will almost certainly find you on the Internet if you have a trail of any kind in any medium. Video cameras rest on almost every roof, overlooking almost every parking lot. They focus in on every subway system; they record every visitor to an ATM and every walk you take through every aisle in every store. You are being watched as carefully as the “bad guys.” Background checks are run on every airline reservation system. Cable television systems monitor and can record every program we watch. Banks and retail stores can tell anyone who has authorization (and even some who don't) what we purchased and where. Grocery stores keep records on what we buy to eat when we use their "discount" plastic cards. Hotels and motels won't let us sleep in their beds without "proper" identification. Toll booths photograph our license tags as we drive through just in case we don't pay. Radar can record our speed on the highway and transmit the info to a waiting patrol car a mile away. Satellites can provide close-ups of our roofs. Sporting events’ guards search us as we enter the stadiums and arenas and in addition to not letting us in with a nasty weapon, won't let us take in our own soft drinks. Insurance companies can keep detail historical records of everyone's love life, illnesses and injuries.
Americans historically have been afraid of being constantly monitored and have usually imagined the close monitoring of citizens to be primarily the actions of despots. Interestingly, democracies can rival the despotic states in monitoring their citizens and frequently outdo them as most of them have more money to spend on monitoring devices. This fear should make Americans aware that it is a very short step from being monitored to being controlled, but that recognition hasn’t appeared to materialize yet with the population at large.
Are we freer now than we have been in the past? Do all of these monitoring and recording systems make us freer? Do we have the FREEDOM to do what we want, where we want, anytime we want, as long as it is legal and without the government and the neighbors being the wiser? Can we echo Martin Luther King’s "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, (we're) free at last!" Free to be monitored? Thanks for that? No thanks.
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