Billboards That Look Back

Paranoid? Not a bit. I happen to follow all that is happening with the identification systems being implemented. Animal tagging (implanting to be more correct) which I was referring to is the government's program for farm animals, but thanks for reminding me about the vets.

As far as relating to the billboard tech., Gun powder had nothing to do with armaments when it was developed. Now try to think of a technology that the government has not incorporated into it's arsenal. Again, this is not paranoia. This is some old fart suggesting to you I may know something about what I'm talking about. This old fart is over twice your age and imagine yourself knowing what you will know thirty years from now. That's a lot of new information, changed perspectives and disillucioned dreams. That's what getting decrepid is all about. : )

Please do some basic Googling about Real ID and the Enhanced Drivers Licenses. For starters you can check out the ACLU's site Real Nightmare.

A little research on Biometrics will also shed some light. I'm not hear to really discuss it. It's so dreadful that one has to learn about it them selves, other wise, it all seems so paranoid-ish.

Not to be standoffish, but the saying goes, before you contradict an old man my young friend, endeavor to understand him.

And a little warning, this stuff is going to make you mad and could invoke a deep sense of despair. But you seem spunky enough to handle it.

I'm not disagreeing with you that the REAL ID is a bad idea, but I'm concerned only insofar as it is pointless. I don't have any privacy concerns with it. The Real Nightmare site's FAQs also talked about private companies created consumer profiles of people. Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

Just so we're clear, here's where I'm coming from: I don't care if private, for-profit companies track every single purchase I make, and then share it with any other company that wants to buy it. I suppose I could have reason to care, but it really just doesn't matter. It doesn't affect me if some corporation knows that I paid $54 for some sci-fi Chucks from Zappos and $5 for a spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's.

I'm going to be subjected to advertisements anyway; I'd much rather they be for products I'm interested in.

I'll go even further. I don't care if the government tracks my every movement. I mean, I think you give far too much credit to the government to even assume it's capable of such broad surveillance. They're a rather incompetent bunch. But let's assume that years down the road they get their act together, tap into some billion-camera connected network, and watch every person every where he or she goes. I still don't see any personal harm. The harm comes only if we devolve into a police state. But rallying against creative advertising techniques isn't going to prevent that anyway. A far better use of time would be to just embrace the billboards that look back, and spend some time campaigning for decent candidates for public office.

It's a shame we don't have thirty years to change your perspective. So it goes.