Spies Like Us

Technology is hurling us through change at a rate never before experienced. Some of these changes takes place before our eyes, other not. Everything public, it seems, is being privatized while the once strictly private is loudly publicized.

As a result privacy is a political issue that comes increasingly under scrutiny. What is it exactly and have we lost it entirely? A thoughtful piece in Le Monde examines what is happening in the society in which we live, where every thought and gesture we make is open to scrutiny whether by public authorities or private interests.

Political leaders have been “outed” in order to advance a cause they chose not to make their own. E-mails and faxes are being sorted through by the National Security Agency via satellite technology that circumnavigates our globe staring down on we mere mortals. Insurance companies seek to ascertain the risks involved with particular clients by examining their genetic code. Cameras are now present in supermarkets, department stores and highschools. A company in Great Britain sold 200,000 bugs last year, all legally.

And then there’s the illegal stuff. Hard to say what the extent of that is. But easy to see that, for governments, illegality poses no risk; they simply change the laws. And they have. Echelon is countered by “Frenchelon” as former pals in the Cold War turn their cold gaze on each other.

Janet Reno fumes about the inapproriate choice of the word, Carnivore, to refer to the FBI’s recently installed surveillance system. Inapproriate, Janet, or all too approriate? The spy is everywhere - in the sky and in your server, too.

And the spy is you. Carnivore technology is made available to those who fear that they have become their official mate’s ‘insignigicant other’. It enables one to examine any and all e-mails in a computer. Secret love affairs have been exposed this way and marriages ended. Although it does make you wonder at the use of such a public medium for communication about such private affairs.

But then maybe affairs aren’t meant to be private anymore. The young adopt to change more quickly than the old and this generation is no different. Sex on the Net is to this generation what church on Sunday was to another. What was once considered obscenity is now just the “Hi-getting to know you” stage of today’s naughty netizens’ sexcapades. Personal websites are up on the net in the thousands, some more personal than others. Jennicam features Jenni ( no relationship to the author) and the boyfriend she stole (borrowed?) from her best pal in all sorts of compromising positions. This tender young love is yours for only a $15.00 subscription fee.

So for some the loss of privacy may not be such a big deal. With all those hot e-mails flying back and forth it’s kind of a shame that the guys at Echelon aren’t guys but machines. Somebody is missing out on a lot of fun. On the other hand, maybe those big brains in the skies are getting a chuckle out of all this.

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