HOW ARE YOU BEING MONITORED?

WHO KNOWS YOU ARE READING THIS?

    I was pleased to see a growing reaction to the reports about Google's accountability.  The info giant has reported

how government's around the world lean on them for information about users and push them for censorship.

   Since beginning this blog I have written about the

"INFORMATION WARS."  This reprises one of the more chilling accounts.

WHO CONTROLS YOUR SEARCH?

Maybe it is a leap, but perhaps it is closer to a chilling reality than we would
like to admit.  I acknowledge there is a bit of a stretch here, but it is one we should well consider.
In George Orwell's 1984, aside the from the image of Big Brother watching,
there was indeed the presence of the thought police.


"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

"Thoughtcrime does not entail death, thoughtcrime IS death"

George Orwell
1984

Now to the relevance of this to you and your life here in cyberspace.

Did you know someone is already "interpreting" your thoughts.

Take a few minutes to watch this and consider the consequence.

The tailoring of a search, to your specific parameters, may seem a benefit.  But think of the underpinning dynamic.  Your information is analyzed and choices are made, ostensibly to assist you, but they are choices that eliminate, prioritize and assume certain values about you, without the benefit of your input.
That appears to be the beginning of a slippery slope.
THE HAUNTING IMAGE
In case you've forgotten, here is a trailer of the movie
that followed Orwell's visionary novel.

Some of you may recall the "free speech movement" and the more recent court cases orbiting around the First Amendment. We have a history of a vigorous defense of liberty and freedom of thought and speech, absolutely.  
The age of convenient communication and information brings a world to your keyboard, smart phone or pad.  But the glow that comes in the marvelous flow of information and the wondrous world of apps, could occlude a more sinister presence.
Data mining, surveillance of your private chats, and control of the information we voraciously consume could begin to turn against us.  We simply need to be mindful, aware, vigilant, and never cede an inch of freedom nor control of what we put into our minds. And we must be diligent about the sources of our information.


"He wondered, as he had many times wondered before, whether he himself was a lunatic. Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one"


"Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull."
George Orwell 
1984


Give it some thought.
See you down the trail.

ABSOLUTE

FREEDOM & COMMUNICATION
On first amendment issues, I am an absolutist.
Congress can not make laws prohibiting the
freedom of religion, speech, press or the right to assemble
to petition government for a redress of grievances.
If Congress can not prohibit those freedoms,
then no one, certainly not a commercial enterprise,
can.  Which makes what appears to be a Yahoo based
censorship program wrong. It is maddening and frustrating
in this age when we rely on communication platforms.
There is every indication that is what Yahoo was doing
with people who were trying to communicate from
the Wall Street protest demonstrations.
Here is video of what appears to be Yahoo's censorship.

Here's background on the story.
Look for updates on the story.
In this cyber age when speech and communiclation
are relayed via information platforms, we need to be
vigilant that our freedoms remain intact and 
are not encroached upon by powerful commercial
interests, who in essence control mediums of communication.
Reference an earlier post here on the new form of 
thought police. 
These are challenging times and we must not allow
disregard or lack of care to undermine what is much
too valuable to a representative democracy. 
DAY BOOK
JUST SNACKIN' AND NAPPIN'

See you down the Trail.