When most companies – and especially corporations – provide extremely desirable and advanced services without charging you it is definitely NOT out of the goodness of their hearts. You can be assured that there is always a profit motive – always. That is a given – the obvious truth; what is not so obvious is what the means of generating profit is.
In the past, the most common way the cost of anything we receive that is free in theory has been paid for by advertising. Magazines and newspapers subsidize the cost of subscriptions with advertising. Local free publications provide the end user with a free copy which is actually paid for the ads they contain. Free to you; paid for by the advertiser. That has been the most common model.
Profit is one thing; freedom is another. Instead of paying for services with advertising we are now trading our privacy for computer services such as email and Web analytics. This is a very dangerous trade because our personal information is not being used only to better target advertising – although that IS what we are told. It is increasingly likely to be used to take away our last vestiges of freedom.
The majority of humans are quick to judge, easily swayed, and lack understanding of common logic faults. Combine those traits with an abundance of information and the potential for the innocent to be condemned, imprisoned, or worse is all too likely.
Here is a real life examples of assumptions of guilt made:
- Drug dealers buy lots of plastic baggies; therefore, anyone who buys large quantities of plastic baggies is a drug dealer
- Have you ever bought such common items as scouring pads, alcohol, cigarette lighters? What if you bought one or more of these items for someone else? What if a relative uses your phone number to buy them? What do these items indicate you could be? You may already be considered guilty and not even know why!
- Before it hit the evening news how many knew that cold medicines are used for something else?
- What other common items you buy have other uses you may not even know about?
Jumping to conclusions is highly dangerous to our liberty. Most people are only too happy to believe someone else is guilty based on superficial “evidence” and how it is presented. Many would instantly believe that someone IS a drug dealer because they buy lots of plastic baggies! Even if wiser heads come to your defense it may be too late to reverse the tide of public opinion.
Who else might buy lots of plastic baggies? How about someone having a bake sale? Or providing the snacks for children’s activities? Or someone who gives out sandwiches to the homeless?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Montana Supreme Court Justice James C Nelson Warns 1984 Has Arrived:
“I don’t like living in Orwell’s 1984; but I do. And, absent the next extinction event or civil libertarians taking charge of the government (the former being more likely than the latter), the best we can do is try to keep Sam and the sub-Sams on a short leash.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
- NSA Spying and Warrantless Wiretapping: EFF’s Case Against AT&T
- CNET: Before You Activate Your iPhone Read This
- See the Additional Resources at the bottom of Why You Really Need to Know How Data Mining Works and How It Is Affecting You
THE DANGERS of LOYALTY PROGRAMS and RFID TRACKING:
- Is Big Brother in YOUR Grocery Cart?
- SpyChips RFID Nineteen-Eighty-Four
- RFID to be Embedded Directly Into Clothing
- Consumers’ Groups Blast Loyalty Cards
- Boycott Tesco: Is There a Tag in Your Bag? Mug Shots, Anyone?
- Position Statement on the Use of RFID on Consumer Products
- A Swipe at Store Loyalty Cards
- Shoppers Learned to Play the Loyalty Card Game
- Loyalty Cards: Reward or Threat?
INNOCENT PEOPLE ARRESTED BASED ON LOYALTY CARDS:
Know of any others? Please leave information and related links if any in comments.








{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: @GrowMap
My major concern with profiling and tracking systems are the potential uses. It has now been well documented that the efficiency with which the Nazi’s eliminated Jews and other “undesirables” was facilitated by the use of IBM equipment to identify and track them. http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/
National ID systems have preceded genocide in many countries. http://www.preventgenocide.org/prevent/removing-facilitating-factors/IDcards/
Most people are not taking seriously enough the potential uses of all this profiling and tracking. What happened in Nazi Germany can easily happen in any country in the world – including the United States.
Anything in profiles could be used to target groups of people – even things that are totally “normal” and “legal” today. With the tracking available today, that group could quickly and efficiently “disappear” before anyone noticed.
For those who do not believe it, consider whether anyone believed what was happening during the Holocaust. How many spoke out or tried to stop it? Why should now be any different?
You may wish to check out this book:
“Never before has there been a book devoted to the idea [of proving] that the logical outcome of government involvement in these areas (from government birth certificates to governmental databases and surveillance) is a 1984-style population control. That is why national ID systems have been called a ‘trademark of totalitarianism.”
http://www.voluntaryist.com/books/nis/
Those who fail to study history are destined to repeat it. Do you know when people were required to carry identification and why? I hope you’ll read this:
http://www.voluntaryist.com/books/nis/slavery_natl_id.php
Twitter: @GrowMap
Another reason I don’t use my real name online any more: http://memes.org/800-fema-prison-camps-time-take-gloves-vs-quotthe-meme-driven-lifequot
Twitter: @GrowMap
The post at that last link includes this phrase: “prevention of dissident groups from gaining access to U.S. opinion”. Bloggers could easily be considered a “dissident group”.
Twitter: @AussieSire
OK? But how exactly is my being a Google Analytic customer costing me. Has it something to do with the script that I placed on my sites giving Google more information than I realize?
Sire’s last blog post..The Quest For A Blogger’s Favorite Posts
Twitter: @GrowMap
@Sire What it could be costing you depends on what other Google services you are using. It is naive to believe that Google won’t use all the data in their system to increase their earnings.
For those who buy AdWords ads that could be extremely expensive. Use their analytics (Google Analytics or those in AdWords or both) and they know which keywords convert and potentially even what your profit margin is.
Anyone who thinks they might not be tempted to use that information to maximize what they charge for advertising doesn’t realize how serious they are about making money.
Read the comments in the post linked to this comment for more details on issues with Google. That isn’t the real point of this post which is trading our personal information for free services may eventually cost us our freedom.
I don’t really get into how serious that all is here because I don’t want readers with closed minds to miss out on how to grow their blogs and businesses because their ears and eyes are closed to the obvious big picture.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..Don’t Make ANY Changes Based on Web Analytics Until You READ THIS FIRST
Twitter: @AussieSire
Fortunately for me the only thing I use other than Analytics is Adsense. I’ve even taken the Google plugin off my browser. The trouble is that Google isn’t the only culprit that exists on the Internet that tries to leach information from the unwary.
Sire’s last blog post..Big Brother Google Opts For Interest-Based Advertising
Twitter: @GrowMap
@Sire True, there are many others who are building profiles on us all, but none is as ubiquitous as Google. Remember that all those entities can and do share information between themselves.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Is Twitter Following Tweeters For Us?
Linked to this comment you’ll find a fictional post about a future that may be fast approaching.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Interesting Google Agenda video
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Best of GrowMap: Our Pillar Foundation Content
Twitter: @GrowMap
YouTube Facebook videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMWz3G_gPhU&NR=1
Who’s Who (in power and wealth) according to Vanity Fair.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Top How to Make Money Blogging Resources
Nice articel thanks for posting !