It all started innocently enough. It was born. First thing he did was the doctor looked and said "Yup, its got one, and that was notated. Next he looked up at the clock, and noted the time. By then it was probably crying, and that was notated too- "Good". It meant it was alive. I, I mean.
My parents had already given me a name, a first, a last, and a middle. That was written in the record of where and when I was born. I was oblivious to all this, but I already had an official identity.
Maybe five years passed. I got used to answering to 'my' name, and did so automatically. I learned to call the others around me by their names, the ones that they gave me to call them, not the ones I made up, could make up, or might have made up were I of that mind but I wasn't. That would change later, after I started school and especially after I went to work.
As I grew, I learned that every person had a name. Teachers had names. Neighbors. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. People in books and on TV. Some names I liked, some I didn't. I asked people sometimes if they liked their name, because I liked mine. Most were ok with their names, but some didn't like the one they had been given- or had inherited.
When I hit teenager, I got a Social Security number and a driver's license number. Had to. Couldn't work or drive without one. Schools kept records on me, and employers too, plus the local fuzz. I got fishing licenses and license plates on my car. I opened my first bank account. My identity was growing.
“Q? You say the identity chips are triggered by pushing this button?”
“DON’T push that unless you need to, Bond!”
Nick Karvounis- Unsplash.com
Car insurance companies, credit cards, and addresses came and went over the years. I became associated with a lot of things. Book clubs, political parties, unions. Social organizations. Churches. I got put on mailing lists. I subscribed to magazines and newspapers. By now a pattern of who I was had formed, but nobody was able to put all the pieces together until.....
....you know, now. Every frickin' detail of who I am (and who you are, reading this) is being tracked by who knows who, where, or why. Why are they so interested in our identities?
Marketing, they say. So stuff can be sold to us. If TV couldn't make me do that, magazines, newspapers, and stores, what makes 'em think.....
....but they do think, don't they? They think this particular chameleon is going to suddenly purchase whatever shows up on his device but I go my own way. I don't even know what I'm going to buy half the time, until the time comes to buy it.
But if these cats are looking for a market, and I'm absolutely amazed that this hasn't been developed yet, it's the market for people to stop being who they 'are'. I, and millions of others, don't want to be pegged or pigeonholed or whatever you call it, endlessly analyzed and meticulously tracked. I (and many others, no doubt) would be delighted to have the ability to assume a new identity, as easily as you can change a password.
How about I keep my true identity to myself, and the internet gets, in addition to Thought Of The Day, my Identity Of The Day?
Today I am Alexander! Tomorrow, Edwin! On Thursday next, Beowulf! Cool!
Track that, snoopers.
My idenity could be like cryptocurrency. It could be tied up in a blockchain and the only way to discover it would be to access the key to my account hidden in a Swiss vault. It's either that, or being as visible to marketers as individual cows in a field, not moving far, easily tracked, and maybe even spray painted with a number.
I mean, come on. Identiies are Old School and we're caught with our pants down out in the open. Tech companies are tracking our movements in real time and running algorithms on us.
It's embarrassing.
But wait! The rabbit hole goes far deeper than that. Knowing human nature, I have to think "Would Number 1 (James Bond's archnemesis) be content with only marketing data?” No! Number 1 would use that data to micro-market every single good and service to you, offering you a different price based on your ability to pay, coupled with your not knowing how much the guy across town is doling out!
We've already got everybody on the plane paying a different price, everybody in the hotel, and ditto everybody renting a car, so why not extend that to the price people pay for everything else? That is what Number 1 would do. And he would be laughing uproariously as the real time data about this poured in and was displayed on animated maps that covered the entire globe!
"Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!" he would bellow, like Jabba The Hut, while his nefarious minions laughed along, nobody having a conscience. This is how empires get built- which is right up Number 1’s alley.
Reality, being individually presented to us, is the danger. There is a great need for cross-checking for right now we're all separately staring at screens, thinking that what we're seeing is what the other guy is seeing. Is it? That is the million dollar question!
How's your trust level with the tech guys lately?
While I have to hand it to them for developing this absolutely incredible tool called the internet I think the barn door was left open during the mad rush to grow and things got introduced into the processes, innocently or intentionally, that users are wondering about but aren't getting clear answers to and so sitting before Congressmen these tech leaders are.
They say data is the oil of the new economy, and tech companies are furiously extracting it. How it's used, where it goes, where it's stored, and how long it's stored are only a few of the questions that need to asked.
And that’s good! 'Cuz I don't want to be paying $582 round trip while the guy next to me is paying $489- and I'm sure you don't want to be either.
But there's more, lots more, than that. Use your imaginations. What else would Number 1 do? Marketing Shmarketing! He of course would use ever single tool at his disposal to bring about his global domination fantasy.
"And that’s where we’re at at present. Bond, you've been briefed".
"Thank you, M. May I go now?"
"Yes. Stop at Ms. Monneypenny's desk on the way out. She has some important papers for you. And The Lab has some devices you will need"
"Ok"
"And Bond?"
"Yes?"
"Good luck! You're going to need it".
(Ok…. It might take more than just Bond to turn this thing around but it sure was fun writing that last part)