Your movements are being watched and noted.
And so are mine.
Paranoia? Hardly.
I have long been against “helpful” systems such as ADT, OnStar, and SPOT devices simply because they are nothing more than a means to track people’s movements.
Oh, they do a great job in advertising how safe and convenient their products are, but in reality, they are people trackers.
ADT is so proud of their ability to watch you 24/7 they boast of in a way that makes you feel you should not be without their services:
ADT is the leading home security company in America for a reason. We’ve been in the business since 1874 and we help protect over 5 million homes, offering continuous security through our “Always There” monitoring service. A single ADT system can help protect you and your family 24/7, and it’s more affordable than you think. Our new services provide video surveillance from any location.
So basically they are saying they will spy on you constantly for your own good. To protect you from ____________ (insert something really frightening here).
SPOT goes a step further. No matter where you go you can be tracked. So your “loved ones” can keep up with you:
SPOT Track Progress provides a fun and easy way to share your outdoor adventures with friends and family. Track Progress automatically transmits your GPS location every 10 minutes. Whether you’re hiking, boating, driving or flying, Track Progress provides a nice breadcrumb trail of your route which you make public or private. Share your outdoor experiences with your loved ones every step of the way!
OnStar is just like ADT only they provide surveillance for your car instead of your home. Push a button and a friendly and helpful customer service representative will call up your location and provide you with directions or information. They know right where you are.
This isn’t new. These “services” have been around for a long, long time. What has sent me into One of My Turns is the fact that we, as consumers, had to go out and look for these companies to spy on us. I have no problem if people want to voluntarily give up their privacy. That’s their right and they have the freedom to choose to do so. But they had to actively seek out and pay for being watched.
That is changing and we should be worried.
At a mall in Richmond, VA, shopper’s movements were tracked by their cell phones:
The system, called Footpath Technology, tracks the unique identification numbers assigned to mobile devices — similar to IP addresses on the Internet — and does not identify individual shoppers. Instead, it shows customers as dots.
That data can then be used to improve traffic patterns at the mall and make other tweaks based on customer behavior.
Some shoppers actually paid attention and were justifiably pissed. The mall’s response?
The mall said shoppers who don’t want to be tracked can just turn their phones off.
So now we are being tracked without our consent.
No harm in that, right?
[...] A Great Day for Freedom [...]