If you are reading this post, you have likely found it from a social networking site, such as Facebook or Twitter. And so has the US government. What's this, you ask? Let me tell you a little story.
A friend of mine from high school, always in and out of trouble with the law, recently got busted in a big drug sting in Wichita, Kansas. He told me about the stuff going on with it. One of the things he told me was that his girlfriend's Myspace and Facebook accounts had gotten locked out (after all of this went down), her password didn't work anymore. When she went through password retrieval, the password had indeed been changed. The password was "fedgov." No one but her had known her password. You can connect the dots there.
So since SHE was social networking friends with my friend, and he's friends with me... Am I under suspicion for anything? Who knows. I have nothing to hide; if I didn't want people to know stuff, I wouldn't post it on the Internet.
So, still on the Facebook tangent... Have you ever noticed how it has "People you may know" there on the side? And most likely, after signing up and plugging in your information, you will know a few of those people. And those people know other people you know. Etc etc. And with the government watching all of this... Isn't it just a little bit unnerving?
If you live in the US, you either have a Social Security number or some other number identifying who you are. This number is tied to your driver's license, your employment (which in turn ties to your housing, as they have your address), your utilities, your schooling. And guess what? That all turns around and ties to your name, which is on the social networking sites... And 'round it goes.
Meandering a bit here, but still on the subject. My husband's car was in the shop, so a friend of ours went with me to go pick it up. He drove hubby's car, following me. I knew he wasn't too familiar with the area, so I kept an eye on him in my mirrors. I checked, and saw he was no longer behind me, but saw a police car's lights flashing a block or so back. I growled inwardly and turned around. Sure enough, my friend had been pulled over. The cop had been sitting on the side of the road running license plates. My husband had an unpaid traffic ticket (the check got lost in the mail I suppose, thank you USPS), so he had a warrant for his arrest. It was tied to that plate. What other data is tied to that? Hmm, I think you catch my drift. It may be a paranoid rambling now, but it can fully come to pass in the not-so-distant future.
And even when there's no police around, there's always the handy traffic cameras. And not only traffic cameras now, but also general neighborhood cameras. Wired posted a story about this. "There goes Mrs. Smith walking her dog." Kind of creepy, eh?
Well, why don't we go so far as to embed chips into our body, so even when we are out shopping we don't have to fumble in our pockets or purses to pull out those pesky credit cards? Sure, let's read about that right here. My religious zealot mother claims this is the mark of the beast, but I find that more amusing than anything else.
Did you know your cell phone is a tracking device? Yep, if it's three years old or newer, it's got tracking. And your cellular provider most likely has your Social Security number on file.
But what about the kids? Oh don't worry, we can easily track them to, even if they are too small to have a cell phone. Now there's nifty devices such as this that allows you (or uh, who else?) to easily keep track of them.
Isn't it all just about enough to make you want to unplug and go hide in a hole?
Yeah, it is kinda scary