...little brothers

I grew up in the day where we went to sleep every night praying the U.S.S.R. didn't toss a nuclear bomb our way and wondering if Big Brother would come to pass. Of course nuclear annihilation never happened, and I don't think that people fear Big Brother any more.

Big Brother, we feared, would spy on us in our homes, make note of our comings and goings, read our mail, follow us around and spy on our every movement and purchase. I don't think that we fear him anymore, I think this because we are all paying his little brothers to do it for him.

We've stopped sending letters that the government can't open, and do all of our correspondence via email. They may not read each and every email that you send, but give the hint of probable cause and everything you've ever sent or received is right there at their fingertips.

We would be outraged if government vehicles followed us around town and made note of where we went and what we bought. Of course we'll shell out the money every month to have little brother OnStar keep track of where we go, and little brother Mastercard to keep a record of all of our purchases, or better yet we use cash and a little brother "store card" because it saves us forty cents. I have seen dozens of true crime shows where the perpetrator purchased his murder kit with a store discount card. Again, no one is sitting around viewing all of your records everyday, but next time something big happens when your are in the neighborhood, don't be surprised if you get a little visit.

But at least we can feel safe at home because we are paying little brother alarm company to keep track of our comings and goings. What door do you use? I don't know, but I bet somebody does.

Of course you may view this as the paranoid rantings of a right wing whacko. There are hundreds of millions of transactions going on every day and the chances of them personally spying on you is slim. I worry about what doors it opens for the future. We're willing to trade what appears to be very little freedom for the illusion of a lot of security. Ever seen a Dateline on how fast the alarm company responds when you really need them? Because of one incident years ago thousands of people every day take off their shoes at the airport. And I'll bet you didn't know that last May it became law that the DNA of your baby will be collected at birth. This is of course for "research" until they get a hit in 15 years on some punk kid and the whole database will be fair game.


Last time I checked this was still America. Exchanging a little freedom for security leaves you entitled to neither.