Surveillance Society

HAVE YOU EVER GOOGLED your own name? Try it. I'm not talking blognames here. I mean full-on birth-cert appellations. You shall be shocked at 1. how you share your name (if it is unusual) with more people than you ever realized possible and 2. how very much information on these people and their careers Google and the worldwideweb between them have succeeded in amassing. Try your entire name, middle names and all and prepare to be shocked. Far more details than you ever thought it fair for others to know might well be sitting there just waiting to be tapped ...

Harlan Coben, in his thriller Just One Look, has his characters googling their own phone numbers. I tried this several times this morning with several acquaintances' digits. Honestly, my friends, you need to try this for yourself if you've not done it before, the results will make you wonder ...

All I can say is, I admit it. Until recently I seriously did not grasp just how microsmall this diminishing global village of ours has actually become. I honestly had no idea. I always knew, of course, that all manner of what we rightly consider personal data was available to those with the connexions, the hacking ability and the sheer bloodyminded persistence to access it. What I didn't realize was how very much Google and its competitors carry for all to poke their noses into freely and without any special knowledge, passes, people you need to know or special techniques to access. I've just tapped in details of some of the old friends I want to get back in touch with. One (and I'm not at all surprised) is still as computer-illiterate as ever. Her query, something like "how do I print out an email" is there on Google for all to ridicule and cackle at...

Food for thought, don't you think? But is it nourishment or poison??

PS for a fascinating blog go to http://www.allaboutolive.com.au/ -- lifestory of a 107 year old Aussie lady!! (Thanxx to Ruth who told me the url.)