Boring and uninteresting

You don't have to be paranoid to know everyone's after you. Paranoia, at least this side of a formally diagnosed illness, is simply a feeling. I say "simply" knowing full well that it's much more than that. Truth be told, I tend to think that what we feel is often more significant and important than what we know.

I know that there are lots of folks who "feel" that they can't live without their personal technology (laptop, smartphone, tablet, etc.) and there are a whole lot more who feel that they have nothing to hide. After all, most of us lead such boring and uninteresting lives that ... well, who really cares whether I was at the movies or the mall last night, or whether I stopped in this fast-food joint as opposed to that one? In general, I agree. Who cares? More specifically, I would say that eventually, the wrong people.

Information can be a powerful tool, or a powerful weapon. As my friend Julius used to say, abusus non tollit usus; that is, just because something is abused or misused doesn't make the thing itself bad. In this regard, information are like guns. They can be very helpful and provide a lot of "feeling safe". But, in the wrong hands at the wrong place at the wrong time, they can be deadly. You just have to know that about guns, and the same holds true for information. What is more, if you have a gun, chances are very high that you are going to use it at some point, willingly or unwillingly, consciously or unconsciously, seriously or frivolously. And the same thing holds for information.

Personally, I'm not all that comfortable with third parties -- be it the government or the shop around the corner -- having, storing, and what's even worse, manipulating my personal data. I'm not paranoid. I know they have it and I know they use it, but I'm not convinced they need it. It's at this point that too many people say, "Well, I've got nothing to hide, what does it matter?" or "Who could possibly be interested in my boring life, so who cares?", but I'm a firm believer that if you don't need it, you needn't have it.

My point is that it is data about me. All the little bits and pieces than everyone is collecting is being shared with everyone else who is interesting in collecting, and the next thing you know, others know more about me than I do, and they're not willing to tell me what they know. At that point, I say it's time to rethink this data or information-collection thing. If it is information about me, why shouldn't I have a right to know what it is and what's being done with it? If they are using this information, say as a corporation, to generate profits, why am I not receiving royalties? If it's the government, why shouldn't I know what they have and who has it and what it's being used for? In other words, when do the rest of us find out what apparently so many others already know?

Like I said last time: I'm not saying we need to opt out of society or go into seclusion. I'm not saying that we need to fear either corporations or government, but we do need to be aware, and since we are involved, I believe we have every right to know. What I'm making a pitch for is more personal involvement and awareness. It is personal, so let me be personally involved.