There once was a time when people lived in caves or shelters made from whatever materials they could find. That was a primitive time, with little clothing, with no privacy. Even the act of finding privacy might get you killed, since the tribal setting provided some degree of safety in numbers. If you were out of sight of the tribe, you might be in the sight of man eaters.
Then, for several thousand years, people lived in huts within tribal villages, or in mud or stone walled houses, or in palaces made of stone. Within those walls, out of sight and hearing of others, privacy of some sort could be achieved.
Of course there were eavesdroppers and snoops, spies and gossipers, but this was not total. Young lovers, adulterers, murderers and thieves, could all find a way to consummate their love or connive in privacy.
Then the telegraphs and telephones were invented, and soon thereafter they could be tapped by anyone with a coil of wire and equipment to read the signals. Just about any phone operator who connected the wires between individual callers could listen in on "juicy" conversations between naive phone users.
Today, with all our technology and social complexity, privacy is a thing of the past. This blog is out there for all to see, and though I do not throw my name out for anyone but a few friends or family, it is available for the spooks and hackers who sneak and peek and pry and snoop and find out who posts what from where.
For the most part I don't really care. I'm not trying to hide anything so much as I'm trying to avoid targeted ads in my email, and to feel free to write whatever I want without madmen hunting me down in spiteful revenge.
I knew that privacy was a problem before Internet was a household word. There were networks for decades before that and they afforded anyone with an ounce of technical expertise the opportunity to read all the non-technical people's email, and to find out who was going to get fired or get promoted before it happened.
Of course this has now evolved into an enormous interconnected "office" where all those emails are sniffed by governments, companies or just plain assholes that drive down the street until they find an unprotected family wireless network.
If you work for a corporation, which has no inherent morality, you have pretty much given up any right to privacy, whether within the company network, or from any information about you that has been gathered by doctors, lawyers, businesses or whoever.
Of course this is "for our own good" when governments do it. Yeah, right. I think everyone should read "The Prince" by Machiavelli before they believe that.
Then, for several thousand years, people lived in huts within tribal villages, or in mud or stone walled houses, or in palaces made of stone. Within those walls, out of sight and hearing of others, privacy of some sort could be achieved.
Of course there were eavesdroppers and snoops, spies and gossipers, but this was not total. Young lovers, adulterers, murderers and thieves, could all find a way to consummate their love or connive in privacy.
Then the telegraphs and telephones were invented, and soon thereafter they could be tapped by anyone with a coil of wire and equipment to read the signals. Just about any phone operator who connected the wires between individual callers could listen in on "juicy" conversations between naive phone users.
Today, with all our technology and social complexity, privacy is a thing of the past. This blog is out there for all to see, and though I do not throw my name out for anyone but a few friends or family, it is available for the spooks and hackers who sneak and peek and pry and snoop and find out who posts what from where.
For the most part I don't really care. I'm not trying to hide anything so much as I'm trying to avoid targeted ads in my email, and to feel free to write whatever I want without madmen hunting me down in spiteful revenge.
I knew that privacy was a problem before Internet was a household word. There were networks for decades before that and they afforded anyone with an ounce of technical expertise the opportunity to read all the non-technical people's email, and to find out who was going to get fired or get promoted before it happened.
Of course this has now evolved into an enormous interconnected "office" where all those emails are sniffed by governments, companies or just plain assholes that drive down the street until they find an unprotected family wireless network.
If you work for a corporation, which has no inherent morality, you have pretty much given up any right to privacy, whether within the company network, or from any information about you that has been gathered by doctors, lawyers, businesses or whoever.
Of course this is "for our own good" when governments do it. Yeah, right. I think everyone should read "The Prince" by Machiavelli before they believe that.
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