By Lance Tonelli
Western Sun executive editor
I was walking down Main Street and suddenly I felt like I was being followed. I quickly turned a corner, then another, and ducked into one of the shops. After a few minutes I went outside and the feeling was still there.
No matter where I went the nagging idea that I was being followed would not subside. I looked left and right and could see nothing. Then I looked down and there it was. My shadow.
It had been tracking my every move. It knew everywhere I went and yet I forgot it was there.
Ring…ring…ring… Technology shadows our every move. We hardly realize what it can actually do.
Today’s new cell phones come with GPS tracking ability. Have you asked yourself how is that information used?
They say that its purpose is to help you, give you directions, or to track down stolen phones. Maybe today that is true, but what about tomorrow?
Tomorrow you could be walking by an advertisement in the mall that changes and speaks directly to you suggesting you shop at a specific store that you just love. It might read the signal from your cell phone that triggers an advertising campaign just for you.
Sounds kind of neat if you ask me, but where will it stop? What data will be out there, who will will have access to it, and how will they use it?
Someone posts a picture of themselves on the web of them getting plastered at a party one night.
That person goes for a job interview at a prestige’s law firm and during their background check one of the decision makers pulls up Facebook and sees the picture. They decide not to hire him because he might not fit in with the image the company wants to portray.
The information was never meant to be used that way, but once information is out there it gets harder and harder to control.
I am not being paranoid nor do I think we should stop using cell phones. I am only suggesting that we consider what is happening around us and maybe try to protect ourselves just a little bit better.
I have nothing to hide, but I also do not trust anyone or anything to know everything about me.
