May, 2017 Edition
by Ms. Duh
Contributing Columnist
So I skipped a month. or two.
As in all things, deal with it.
First. Our Trump-bitchin. I’m not even going to say anything ad hom about the the cheetolini. I’m just going to say this: Federal 2018 preliminary budget increases defense spending by 54 billion dollars, gives the border wall 2.6 billion dollars, school “choice”, 1.4 billion dollars, CUTS the EPA’s Budget by 31%, CUTS the Agriculture Department’s Budget by 21%, CUTS the Labor Department’s Budget by 21%, CUTS the Department of Health and Human Services’ Budget by 18%, CUTS the Commerce Department’s Budget by 16%, CUTS the Education Department’s Budget by 14%, CUTS the Department of the Interior’s Budget by 12%…. for more information: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-presidential-budget-2018-proposal/?utm_term=.34cbffe827e5. PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE…
Okay. There’s not a lot of Mac out there to talk about. I miss the days of Mac Addict and our underdog platform being the eventful and evangelized thing we all were enthused about as it sat shining on that hill. Now, it’s a company that makes cool crap that we like. Much like Elbow Chocolates or Tesla.
I have, though, a computery thing to talk about.
We live with upcoming generations who have no sense of boundaries. They post their every waking moment online, they are free with their private information just spilling onto the internet for all to see, they have really BAD judgment as to what to share and with whom. It’s not a new thing. We are were butt-dumb when we were young. We all were making really bad decisions. We all have things that we regret caused by the indiscretion of youth. The difference is that the consequences of the things everyone does now can be amplified exponentially and immortalized forever by the internet. I’m not sure the real extent of the damage bong hit pictures, public drunk texts, or even revenge porn is doing to the generation that lies in front of me, sprawled in their own digital vomit. I don’t even know if they even care. Maybe all that will roll off their backs like so much water off a duck. Not likely. But it does create a climate where it the seriousness and concern for this is not there - its also create an environment where our information, our privacy isn’t valued or protected like it should. When you grew up, giving it away, then the horrific nature of the slow erosion of our privacy rights isn’t readily apparent to them. It’s not only privacy involving stupid, drunken, pictures or even the terrifying nature of someone posting private pictures or private information like your credit card numbers and addresses. It’s the wide open nature of insurance companies getting your medical records, its employers or even the government acquiring mass amounts of private information from sexual status to associations to political groups. It’s the degrading of the securities that protect our information that should be scary to EVERYBODY. The Trump administration is rolling back the protections that were enacted to protect your online privacy.
The selling of your browser history may not seem like something that serious. But its the selling of your private mindset - the places you go, the things you looked at, the people you talked to. And its the wholesale exposure of all this information through channels you can’t monitor to destinations don’t know for purposes you can’t fathom.
Do YOU want people to know your medical conditions? Or your research on what you may have? Do you want people to know you're gay? Do you want people to know your researching narcotics? Do you want people to know your sexual proclivities? Do you want people to know where you bank? What school your kids go to? Where you go during the day? Where you live?
And do you want people, corporations, the government be able to deny you services, insurance, travel documents, permits based on this information. If the government should turn more tyrannical, do you want them to have access to a massive database of information on you - whether you are toeing the current political line, whether your activities are noteworthy or jailable offenses. It’s a slippery slope. We can’t know the ramifications of our actions, or of our inaction to prevent what can be taken from us without our permission, or even our knowledge. I want to, at least, peak your interest - so that you will add to that marketable browser history, some entries that show you your concern… have some entries that show you visited:
https://www.eff.org/issues/
http://techfreedom.org
https://it.ojp.gov/PrivacyLiberty/organizations/pcl-organizations
https://www.privacycoalition.org
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/tags/online-privacy
http://www.macmothership.com
Go forth and browse.
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