Nothing to hide? It's just as well...from the time we get up in the morning until we climb into bed at night we leave a trail of data behind us for others to collect, merge, analyze, massage and even sell, often without our knowledge or consent.
7:30 |
Check your e-mail - even after you delete an e-mail, it leaves a digital “print” – even after you empty your trash the hard drive “prints” are still accessible and could be tracked down. |
8:15 |
Download a song to your iPod - online technologies take note of information like your e-mail address and what kind of songs you like. |
8:42 |
Late for doctor’s appointment - call medical centre to let them know — cellular phone calls can be easily intercepted; new personal telephones signal your whereabouts to satellites to deliver calls. |
9:17 |
Enter doctor’s office - cameras monitor you and record the time you come in. |
9:20 |
Doctor’s appointment - health cards will soon contain small computer chips to record your complete medical history on the card, blood samples contain DNA which could be tested for wide variety of conditions, doctor’s diagnosis may need to be disclosed to insurance company when you buy life or disability insurance one day and details sent to centralized registry run by insurance companies. |
9:29 |
Send personal e-mail to older sister at work - this can be read by sister’s employer; simple deletion does not erase it from the computer's hard drive. |
10:30 |
Drive car to school - your geo-positioning device plots your route to school and records your vehicle location at all times; radar cams along the way record your speed and will have a speeding ticket sent to your home address if you drive above the legal limit. |
11:00 |
Enter school - cameras record your entry into the building. |
12:05 |
Use bank machine at school - system records details of transactions, cameras overhead or in machine record your behaviour. |
12:20 |
Return a book you bought yesterday. For the return you are required to fill out a form that asks for your phone number and the number on your driver’s license. |
12:30 |
Buy birthday gift for friend - credit card records details of purchase, retailer's loyalty card profiles purchase for points and directed discounts; banks may use spending patterns to help assemble complete customer profile. |
12:35 |
Pick up prescription - some provinces have on-line drug networks which share your drug history with pharmacies across the provice and may be disclosed to police tracking drug abuse. |
1:00 |
Return to school - card records your return. |
2:15 |
Log onto Internet from a computer at school - your choice of chat groups and your messages can be monitored and a profile assembled by anyone, including police; some Web sites monitor your visits. |
3:00 |
Provide urine sample for competitive sports program - reveals use of targeted drugs but not impairment, sample may also reveal use of legal drugs such as birth control pills, insulin and anti-depressants. |
6:15 |
Buy a fast-food meal - debit card purchase recorded, loyalty card tracks selections for marketing and targeted discounts. |
6:30 |
Pick up video - computer records viewing preferences, Social Insurance Number; store may also sell your viewing preferences to other companies. |
7:05 |
Listen to phone messages - your phone has recorded callers’ phone numbers, displays your number when you call others, unless you enter code to block the display. |
7:45 |
Complete first draft of an essay for school - computer records content, can also store keyboard speed, error rate, length of pauses and absences. |
8:20 |
Order clothing from catalogue - company records personal details and credit card number and may sell the information to database-list-marketers. |
9:10 |
Log onto Internet - you visit your favourite social networking site and post information about what you did that day and some photos from the party last weekend. Pictures and comments you post can be accessed by future college and job interviewers. |
Increasingly, living a modern urban life seems to mean there is nowhere to hide. In our search for security and convenience, are we hitching ourselves to an electronic leash?
