A few weeks ago, I wrote a story about some of the possible dangers of the excessive spying and tracking that we live under in this Post-Snowden era.
In that same story, I contemplated the idea that those big data collecting companies (moonlighting as Social media) could sooner or later start to sell or "volunteer" the consumer’s private data to the governments of the world.
But between you and me, I was wondering if they aren’t already doing that.
This morning, the answer to that question came a little closer as I stumbled upon this article:
It’s official, we’re screwed.
This week, there was apparently a new law that passed on Britain called The Investigatory Powers Bill, a law that forces internet providers to send over all your internet history so they can track your every movement.
Everything you buy online, the love messages you send to your partner, and every small personal detail about you... It now belongs to them.
How about those voice files that certain apps keep recording 24/7? Well, you better not have sex with your phone in the bedroom.
Here’s the crazy, insane and ballistic part of this whole thing:
There are over 50 agencies in the UK that now legally can spy you with total impunity, from local police, to transport departments, to the food standard commission.. Etc.
The first thing that comes to mind is this:
Why would the food commission want to read your work and personal emails or keep track on the movies you watch?
But then that question takes a back seat as you realize that there are tons of people who work in those departments who can have access to everyone’s private and personal data.
In fact, the article states that even a normal inspector could basically steal all the personal and private data of any citizen, if he wanted to.
This is dangerous on so many levels.
And we’re not talking about some dude who works in the department of transportation and who has a crush on his neighbor, so starts reading all her personal messages and accessing her private nude photos..etc.
That's just the vanilla part.
Under this new Orwellian Law, how long do you think until some corrupt cop starts selling the personal data of millions of citizens for a substantial sum of money?
Anywhere from the likes of Cambridge Analytica to celebrity porn websites, they won't hesitate to pay the big bucks in order to seize and/or publish all sorts of personal data that should’ve always remained private.
And at the end of the day, if you thought this is scary enough… Wait until the taxman gets involved.
The funny thing remains that less than a decade ago, “Big Brother” was the biggest conspiracy theory the world had ever seen.
If you dared to even entertain the thought that the government may be spying on you, you would've been labelled a loon, a crazy person.. At the best of cases, you would’ve been considered a fool who listened to some insane and paranoid conspiracy theorists.
“Stop saying crazy stuff! The government would never do something something like that”.
Then Edward Snowden came around and Poof! All that judgment and ridicule vanished in an instant.
And far from learning from these lessons, everyone just accepted that they are being spied on and moved on.
“It’s just a few people with very high clearance that can have access to that data anyways”.
Fast forward a few years and that clearance level has been reduced to over 50 departments and every average Joe who works in them.
Big Brother is coming, and this time he has a hell lot of new relatives.