REMEMBER, they are always watching you. Use cash when you can. Do not give your phone number, social-security number or address, unless you absolutely

The end of privacy | The Economist

submited by

Style Pass

2021-09-11 07:30:05

REMEMBER, they are always watching you. Use cash when you can. Do not give your phone number, social-security number or address, unless you absolutely have to. Do not fill in questionnaires or respond to telemarketers. Demand that credit and data-marketing firms produce all information they have on you, correct errors and remove you from marketing lists. Check your medical records often. If you suspect a government agency has a file on you, demand to see it. Block caller ID on your phone, and keep your number unlisted. Never use electronic toll-booths on roads. Never leave your mobile phone on—your movements can be traced. Do not use store credit or discount cards. If you must use the Internet, encrypt your e-mail, reject all “cookies” and never give your real name when registering at websites. Better still, use somebody else's computer. At work, assume that calls, voice mail, e-mail and computer use are all monitored.

This sounds like the paranoid ravings of the Unabomber. In fact, it is advice being offered by the more zealous of today's privacy campaigners. In an increasingly wired world, people are continually creating information about themselves that is recorded and often sold or pooled with information from other sources. The goal of privacy advocates is not extreme. Anyone who took these precautions would merely be seeking a level of privacy available to all 20 years ago. And yet such behaviour now would seem obsessive and paranoid indeed.