I have watched with considerable interest and bemusement the feigned outrage and posturing by many segments of the population since the revelations of the NSA’s global SIGINT programs. I find it all amusing at best given how little everyone has paid attention to fact that their Privacy began eroding back in the ’80’s and has diminished to Near Zero at this point. It is hard to believe that everyone should be so upset about something that they lost (or abdicated) such a long time ago (for many, before they were even born) and yet now are just realizing it. Nonetheless, perhaps these events and all of the spleen venting that continues to go on about them will start a dialog about “The Illusion of Privacy”.
Privacy is a state of mind (like Trust) that cannot be quantified or regulated in the world that we live in today. Virtually every consumer has abdicated their Privacy Rights by signing one EULA after another with their Service & Software Providers for all of the “apps, gadgets & devices” that they require to support their daily lives. Has anyone (besides Lawyers) ever read one of these before clicking Accept? Doubtful, I imagine and if you did read it what are your options? Decline is not one of them.
In the end we all must develop more Situational Awareness. If you fall into the trap of complacency and believe that there will be no consequences to anything that you post, write or say then you are truly the fool. We should all embrace the notion of “Low Tech” Face-to-Face (F2F) communications from inside our own personal SCIF’s (Secure Compartmentalized Information Facilities) aka our converted bomb shelters (for those who grew up during the Cold War). This is probably the only means of Privacy that we still have available.
Embrace the horror that we have created in our zeal for technology and for having abandoned our individual roles in checking the power and growth of Government intrusion in our daily lives.
Until next time.
infomgmtexec 