This Week's Privacy Violations

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20155192

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15004063

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20461752

So , what do we have today to complain about in the way of personal privacy.

I see a school down in texas has decided to put sticky chips on the skin of pupils and track their every move on school property. Probably so they can't just take it off and hand it to a friend to "check in" for them when they're not actually there.

Has anyone considered that such things can be hacked, and your child can be tracked everywhere , by , say , the school bully, and thence become a target of repeated bullying with no place to hide ? I can just see hackers selling you subscriptions to the local weaklings location any time you like on your cell phone for a few bucks a month , and the bullies can ambush him any time they like.

Another brain dead ad for the "Internet of Things" (IoT) , whereby they put a radio chip in your jeans and now you can be tracked anywhere. Does anyone really want to sign up for that ? No ? What if they put it in every piece of clothing and there is no clothing for sale with out it ?

What if your job only hires you if you have your "Things" registered so they can track your every move , everywhere ? Think I'm crazy ? How many of you get asked in your job interviews for your face book address (and possibly password ) ? That many eh ? And you obviously don't get the job if you decline , am I right ?

Speaking of facebook , there's an article out there about how businesses should "carefully" go through applicants face book pages to determine if they are suitable employee's or not. Their only worry ? You might fake your public profile and make yourself look like a good candidate rather than tell the truth. Those who tell the truth about that night five years ago when you got really drunk and the police arrested you for piddling on the police cruiser while the cop was still inside ? Yeah , ever wonder why no one will hire you ?

I have a friend who thinks the whole world is spying on him. He is not far wrong. The whole world is spying on all of us. And it ticks me off that it's for the stupidest of reasons. It's because they think I might have a nickle in my pocket , and they want a slice of the action. They want to know my exact location not because of a vast government conspiracy , but because if I happen to be passing a pizza joint they want to send me a text message full of advertising for that place.

We are being robbed of our privacy. And it's for the dumbest of reasons you can imagine. And that is just so wrong.

Goodbye Wireless Toaster , Part Deux !

After spending the last month trying to convince me to move into the same building as himself, wireless toaster has now sent me a nasty email saying that he will call the police for stalking if I do so.

This is on top of endlessly talking about conspiracy theories about how the government is out to get him. And its the second time he pulled this stunt, the first time he accused me of working for the imaginary government conspiracy in his mind , but months later he came back and it was all a terrible misunderstanding.

I just looked up paranoid schizophrenia at the Mayoclinic.com . He's batting seven out of 9 symptoms.

Signs and symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia may include:
• * Auditory hallucinations, such as hearing voices - pass
• * Delusions, such as believing a co-worker wants to poison you - yes ..government out to get him does count
• * Anxiety - always
• * Anger - wants to kill our friend maple leaf rag
• * Emotional distance - he always was
• * Violence - did I mention he wants to kill someone ?
• * Argumentativeness - oh he will argue for hours
• * Self-important or condescending manner - More so that most of us yes, he thinks he's important enough for the government to be after him because he knows stuff , he can get them into trouble (which ,he already tried, and it got no where)
• * Suicidal thoughts and behavior - never asked.

Yeah , "Life Long Condition" (ie: there is no cure) and sooner or later he's going to either get tired of waiting for the imaginary government conspiracy to pick him up and start going after people ,or he's going to off himself.

And everyone around him is a government agent. Aha.

Goodbye , Wireless. Your condition has no cure it seems. Plus from the way you go on and on and on about the government secretly testing LSD on people , you took some didn't you ? The damage LSD does to your brain is also permanent , for the rest of your life.

I am getting old , and I don't have the ability to deal with a potentially violent person who might decide to stab me and then stand over my corpse laughing manically and shouting "He thought he fooled me ! But I know the Truth !" .

OK , maybe a little too much movie drama in that image. But you get the idea. I can't deal with him and no one can cure him. It's time to say goodbye.

I hate Wind

So ,here I am at the library , no internet again.

I hate wind. (my phone and internet data stick provider )

I gave them $67.80 on the 30th (yes ,I just looked that up , I really don't have a photographic memory) . This covers 25$ for my phone , and 35$ for their unlimited plan. And 8.50$ I presume to be tax.

So why is it on the 15th I'm staring at a web page that says your account is suspended add more money ?

so I phone wind up , and I get this long sad story about how your data stick the end of the billing cycle is the 15th and they want money.

but I just gave you 35$ on the 30th , thats only 15 days ago. I wnat to speak to your supervisor.

No dice. The supervisor demands 25$ , something about a minimum balance yadda yadda yadda. I tell her that the fact that her accounting system is broken and is eating my money is not an acceptable excuse and hang up on her.

I mean sheesh, they took 35$ for 15 days service, now they want another 25$ ... thats 60$ a month ! I can't afford that.

And these monkeys can't keep their stories straight , the last one told me I was good to the 30th thanks for your 35$ and now this one is saying more money , and it's all your mistake for not reading our minds and following our rules which we don't tell anyone about and don't publish anywhere give us more money.

so ... here i am at the library with no internet access.

And the internet access i did have was all crappy and you couldn't play online games on it anyways , my primary use for it.

I aint paying 60$ / month for a service that cuts out every 5 minutes and doesn't let me play online games. I will soldier on without it and use the money for something else.

On another note...the first time I walked all the way to the library i was totally beat. This time it was just a pleasant walk. I think I might be getting used to this whole early retirement disability business.

Except for the part where i can't eat anythign until i get back home. Travelling the world on an empty stomache to avoid ... unmentionables isn't all it's cracked up to be.