Nick Contrino, Danny Otten and Dina Losito finish out the year with more lists, more Apple love and more of us. Discussed favorite applications, apps and SIRI singing to Notorious BIG. Happy Holidays Everyone!
The Nick Dan Dyke Show 12/18/11 [ 1 hr. 08 min. 50 sec. | 27.57 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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In this episode, Dina talks about privacy concerns, the Patriot Act, etc. This is not to disagree with Dina’s point, but I’d say the thing is a lot bigger than that. Aside from the government, it concerns me how much information is out there in all sorts of private databases. I’m not saying private databases should be illegal, because that wouldn’t be practical even if it were a good idea. But there’s just a lot of information out there. Your credit card company knows an uncomfortable amount about your habits, as does Google and Amazon. Not to mention your bank or your supermarket with its club card. Or whoever it is that collects data from the various tracking cookies. So even if we’re not being monitored by black helicopters with packet sniffers, we’re being followed.
It’s also worth noting that the advent of the modern tax structure set the precedent and standard for government intrusion. The government has its eye on every transaction you participate in. Your employer tells the government what he pays you. Your bank, your broker, all report everything to the government. If you take cash out of your bank so as to transact private transactions, the bank is required to file a special report. If the government monitored criminals the way it monitors ordinary citizens, our guardians of civil liberties would be up in arms. But nobody much cares about the rights of taxpayers. The lawyers rush to protect Bradley Manning or terrorists held at Gitmo or other jerks and lunatics, but the normal people aren’t on the map.