The future through the eyes of paranoia: the flip side of the digital era

Habré constantly publishes topics about new products, like Google Glass, or, for example, as in the topic of electronic tattoos that the Good Corporation is working on. Actually, I registered on Habré in order to leave a comment in the topic on the link. But read-only - he is so read-only ...
So, a few words in support of those who are offered a "foil hat." But, to begin with, in order not to produce unnecessary questions, a little bit about yourself. I'm a bit paranoid. Not to the extent to wear the said hat, but, yes, yes - paranoid. And, immediately I say, I do not read the yellow press and do not watch TV. In this topic I will try to be realistic, look at the situation objectively, taking into account my experience and some life situations.

First about Google Glass. In the topic of prohibiting unrecognized software for guglochkov many are outraged by this policy of the Corporation of Good. Someone can not remember the name of friends / employees, someone just claims that facial recognition is progress, and, accordingly, Google itself with this “disapproval” hinders this progress. Someone claims that this is all temporary, and when the points go to the masses and become popular, the ban will be lifted.

Lyrical digression. Not so long ago, I rested with my friends in nature. In principle, they rested culturally, but one of the comrades slightly framed us. Although he did not do anything very reprehensible. As a result, we had a not entirely pleasant conversation with the owner who was passing by (the tenant, most likely) of the land on which they rested. Given that he traveled by car with difficult numbers, this person could easily give us trouble. He talked quite arrogantly, hinted at problems ... He even took a picture of us and our car on an iPhone (at the time of photographing, I hid my face under the peak of the cap).

For those who begin to talk about the fact that they themselves are guilty and "it was not necessary to break the unrest," it is quite possible to draw a different situation. You drive a car, do not touch anyone. Suddenly, someone on a very cool car cuts you off - a small accident. Or they simply did not miss someone, although they did not break the rules. Is it not enough that the majors ride along the roads and those who think that everything is allowed to them?
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And now let us imagine that the very glasses with the ability to recognize faces are passing by the “owner of factories, lands, ships” passing by. And, that I have in open access in social networks a complete set of personal information - photo, name, phone number, place of study, place of work, maybe home address. Few people who put such information in the network? And so, the opponent, just looking at me, immediately finds out that my name is Pupkin Vasily Ivanovich, I live in the city of X at Second Building Stroiteley, apartment 125, I meet with Ivanova Elena, etc. In general, the full information about who I am, where I come from, what I do. And now let's imagine that we still had a conflict, and not a “pre-conflict situation”, as I called this case for myself. Yes, we had more. He would not take any action on the spot. But then what? He knows everything about me. Do I have to wait for the "athletic guys" to ring at the door in the evening? Or the same guys will wait for me at the entrance? Or that friend, if he has a certain influence, will suit me at work? Or ... I think for everyone living in the CIS, this development does not seem fiction.
Or, let's imagine that you are not completely satisfied with the situation in your country. So not happy that they decided to go to any protest. Let peaceful and resolved. And imagine that law enforcement officers also have guglochka with the same software, and you still have the same set of information on the social network (or at least a sufficient set of information for identification). After the protest, a full list of all participants falls on the “high table”. If the power in the country cannot boast of democracy, the Fas! Command may well be heard. And as a participant, you are an unreliable person, you fully feel all the charms - problems at work / school, law enforcement visits (up to detention), tax pressure and other regulatory agencies, if you are an entrepreneur ... To continue the list? Or does this scenario also seem fantastic to someone in our realities?

By the way, the last scenario is relevant not only for Google Glass, but also in case you have a smartphone with GPS on, set up for an account on any social network, which, with the best of intentions, will show right on the map where you are in this moment you are. Competent authorities will not be difficult to collect information.

Well, since we were talking mainly about facial recognition, another, last, situation on this subject. Let's say you met a girl. Walk with her. Only the girl already has a husband / boyfriend, with whom "everything is difficult." Or you have a wife / girlfriend. We will not discuss the moral side of the issue. Here you walk, or sit in a restaurant, or something else. Someone is taking pictures of someone against the background of something, and you get into the frame. The photo enters the social network, which recognizes faces and kindly sends to everyone she recognized and their friends. Marked with "Vasya Pupkin was noticed ..." / "Lena Ivanova was noticed ...". Or the girl herself was photographed with you on a smartphone, which automatically posted the photo in the social network. Someone doubts that, even if the photo does not come directly to the account of a boyfriend / husband or girlfriend / wife, then there are well-wishers who will immediately tell them everything? Someone wants to be in this situation?

NB: I do not know whether such a service is real now, because I don’t use social networks, but, given the trends of “socialization”, it is quite real in the very near future. After all, it was not so long ago an application for dating (the name, unfortunately, I don’t remember), which showed who was in a certain radius from a smartphone (with a photo, a page on a social network, interests and other information).

Now aggravate. Above, I wrote only about the preservation of privacy. Electronic tattoos, chip-making, which, judging by some comments, some “wait, cannot wait,” and other cyberpunk charms, come to the scene. Imagine that such things completely replaced the passport and other documents, bank cards, also show your location and so on. The option that they are shocked, if an unreliable thought occurred to me, I will not consider.

Again lyrical digression. Let it cause a certain reaction here, but I do not trust banks. I remember too well 2008, when the banks fell down. I remember the queue of 100+ people at the door of the bank, by which I pass when I go to work. I remember how 3 months wrote letters to the bank so that he returned my deposit. I had the right to do so under the contract and under the law. But for some reason, the National Bank of Ukraine decided that its by-laws are above the law and that it has the right to manage my money. Therefore, I do not use bank cards and generally try to stay away from banks. The longer I watch what is happening, the more I become convinced that if you don’t have real money in your pocket, you can assume that you don’t have any money at all. This is my right to decide how I keep my money.

And then electronic tattoos, chips, etc. come onto the scene. As someone predicts, they will replace everything. What we get in the end?

If regarding money, your account can be blocked at any time. Let it be convenient to use such a tattoo / chip. Let the state save on making cash. Let you not be able to pull out the wallet on the street. Let it be unhygienic to use paper money - there are a few who held it in their hands before you. But ... You seem to have a certain amount in the account, but, as if by magic, you either have zero or you cannot use your money. The reasons? But you never know them! In our country (I suspect that in other CIS countries), anything is possible! How many situations when people "squeeze" apartments and other property out of the blue? And if the entrepreneur is trying to take away the business? Drew someone for some reason to sue you in court, and demanded, as a security claim, seize the account. Everything, even bread can not be bought! Or, again, you are on the list of unreliable and the state is pressing on you so much ... This is not politics - I’m just trying to objectively, based on today's realities, draw a plausible situation.

Again, we can not exclude the situation with a failure in the system. After all, the more complex the system, the more unreliable it is. Some highly gifted person found something in the system, and all the information about your money disappeared. Or, even worse, you disappeared. In the comments to the topic of electronic tattoos, in my opinion, it slipped. Think for yourself - because if you do not have a document (there is no record in the database when everything becomes electronic), then legally you do not exist. You do not have money, you lose property rights, you legally lose your wife and the right to raise your own children ... Because you simply do not exist for the state! Unreal situation? Even now, when everything is on paper, there are cases when fraudsters issue a fake death certificate. For what? Then a third-degree grand-nephew appears who claims the right to inheritance, a court decision is made about his right to a part, for example, an apartment, this part is resold several times ... And so on, until the apartment is completely transferred to the property of someone who does not understand. Imagine that all this can be done by a simple change in the database.

Among the other "charms" of electronic tattoos and chips you can find a lot more. If the tattoo / chip will also transmit information about the location of the carrier, the BB will always know where you are. How, in my opinion, it was on the bash - “GLONASS not so that you know where the homeland is, but so that the homeland knows where you are.” Again - protests and more. Or, for example, law enforcement officers can find out by logs, who was near the crime scene at the time of its commission. And if you were close? Our police - she is. Conscience is enough to hang the case on anyone, just to show the detection. And if for some reason you need to hide?
I believe that the arrival of such a digital era will turn people into such hamsters. There will be new levers of pressure on people, which will be used by the state and all sorts of dark personalities. All this is against the backdrop of the collapse of democracy. After all, why democracy, if a person can already be fully controlled? Now there is a situation where, despite all the guarantees of privacy, providers, social networks, mail, etc. are obliged to provide (and provide) data and personal information of users to special services even in the most, it seems, democratic countries. That is, we already have no private life on the network. It remains to allow a little bit more. To give the authorities complete control over themselves, over their actions, over their money, over their property ... Who will protest against the authorities if that one can deprive him of everything at any moment? Even if this power does not like. Even if not much like. Even if the government decides to shoot for a careless post on the forum, insulting the next "Great Pilot", or punish for insulting the feelings of the believers, criticizing the very slow mail and so on. You will come out to protest against the authorities, knowing that, with a couple of clicks, you are legally erased from life?

The point here is not the "foil caps", not the masons and other conspiracy theories. The fact is that with the development of such technologies, total control over a person is established. That a person will simply have nowhere to hide from the BB - neither online nor in real life. Someone will say that "do not break the law, and live in peace." But then the laws are different. What laws will come up with power, if you know that every person in the territory under her control is completely under control? I see that people just shut in a kind of digital cage. A person like a hamster will be happy, full and warm until he wants to get out of the cage. While fully obedient to the owner. And if not - the value of a hamster is not great. It can always be replaced by a new hamster. True, there are valuable hamsters - they can be allowed a little more. But, in the main mass ... Personally, I don’t want to become a hamster in order for me to immediately give me the name of the person I’m looking at, instead of writing his name as a last resort in my notebook in order to pay for the purchase chip, and not recalculate cash at the box office. Nobody argues that all this is very convenient. But what price will have to be paid? Is this comfort worth what we can lose?