Maybe they do know where you’ve been
I spent part of this morning “setting up” a geolocational device for someone here at the office. Now there’s an act of faith: leaving for the other end of the province with an in-car GPS that you’ve never used before, hoping to end up at a planned destination. Out of kindness, I included a set of printed maps in the car kit. Old school, meet new school.
There is some fascinating reading over at pleaserobme.com that mentions (a kind term, don’t you agree?) the risk we have with new, nosy devices. It used to be that the neighbour down the road kept track of your “comin’s and goin’s”. Everyone needs a hobby. Still works that way in rural areas. But for the cityslicker, there was a sense of anonymity. One in a million. The only one that knew where you had been, or where you might be going, was you.
Not necessarily. In a world where the electronic transit pass, the car toll device, intelligent traffic cameras, GPS enabled smartphones and other such toys of the modern age proliferate, it is possible to follow the breadcrumbs. Keep telling yourself, “Nobody cares”. Use it as a mantra. But don’t be surprised if there’s more tracking of your tracks than you realize.
Storage space is cheap. Petabytes, with the right budget envelope. Pattern analysis software; quality stuff, too. Not like that silly facial recognition package shipped with new laptops (boasting integral webcams). Until someone markets a true “cloak of anonymity”, just keep in mind that you do have nosy neighbours. Even if you don’t know their names.
