Tag Archives: real world

Almost every website, every online company, and even some blogsites have a signup process in which you are often required to give personally identifiable information or else you can not use their services. Even just visiting websites transmits to that website’s server your ip address and other potentially identifiable information, depending on what ‘cookies’ that website transmits to your computer. Even out in the real world, unless you are using cash all the time, every transaction you make with your credit card or bank card transmits personally identifiable information to that company’s database. Just walking around in public places will have your face on any number of video surveillance cameras in stores, shopping centers, trainstations, etc.. There is even a global surveillance computer network called ECHELON which can scan phone conversations, e-mails, and any form of digital communication for certain keywords / information. My question is: why all this surveillance?