When I first heard about cameras going up everywhere, I remember saying I wasn’t opposed to it because I’m not doing anything really wrong…right?
Next I was being monitored by my spending. Getting annoyed that the “deciders that be” allowed for this intrusion for the sake of capitalism and data tracking, but I wasn’t too bothered by it because I accepted that this was a part of the cost of doing business nowadays.
Surely, I agreed to all of this monitoring when I signed up for the rewards card, or the credit card, or whatever it was.
What was I going to do about it anyway?
Then came the in-home eavesdroppers. This is where I drew the line. While it would be convenient to have a machine lower the volume and tell me the weather, I wasn’t prepared to give away all of my personal information (again, not that there’s anything that interesting but still…)
I already have my phone listening when it is on. It’s funny – every time the conversation comes up with friends about being listened to by our phones, someone says, “do you really think that’s happening” and then, inevitably the response comes back “oh yeah, 100%, listen to what I saw on my feed after I was talking about something totally random…”
Where I am torn is on the health tracking front. I love counting my steps as much as the next person, and I’m sure this data benefits the individual using the device as much, if not more, than the company collecting the information. But what about the implications of this data being sold to other end users, such as insurance companies?
I’d like to see some discussion and debate but even questioning it makes people uncomfortable. It seems that everyone is just resigned to accept the intrusion on our privacy in the name of the “convenience” these technologies provide. Are we all just living on display for data purposes? Why should it even matter? What happens to dancing like no one is watching when someone always is?
human.dot.being 