Seems that we are constantly being watched, listened to, monitored, or hacked! I understand there are over a million cameras watching London visitors as they flock to Wimbledon and the Olympics. Add this to the proliferation of cameras at stop lights, intersections, stores, malls, parking lots, schools, playgrounds, and even offices. Someone is always watching!

Plus, everything I do that touches the grid seems to be in use against me…often with the excuse that it is for my benefit. Every time I buy anything, the purchase is tracked by some frequent buyer program or credit card monitoring group. All of this data is used to catch bad guys stealing credit cards and to improve service provided to me. Great! But I know it is also used to build and send ads my way that directly speak to me and my buying habits.

This is not necessarily bad. I like the fact that Amazon knows what books I like and sends me notices about new ones that I will like. I also like the fact that my food market prints out coupons for me that speak to my wants and needs. I really like the 5% discount I get for letting them track my data this way.

Many of the newer apps that we download onto our pads and phones track our usage data too. They claim that this is just so they can improve the product and service. Hope so.

What really worries me is the potential for someone to gather all of this data on me, analyze it well and discover that I am a flake, a slob, uneducated, or a redneck just looking for someplace to hide.

Not unthinkable. DARPA had a program a few years back that wanted to do this in order to find terrorists hiding in our midst. Worthy goal. Just worried about the potential for misuse.

What if someone used this data to find the people who might be planning a crime? What if their “pattern” of interaction on the grid showed them to be dangerous? Would we arrest them, a la Minority Report?

Scares me some.