Quick, now. How many great inventions can you name that get turned into something most undesirable?
That many? That’s more than I thought of.
What brought this to mind was a piece I read on the Internet that
said, as part of its promotion, just type in a cell phone number and they would tell you its location. Interesting. But, they weren’t suggesting that you had misplaced it and they will tell you it’is on the table beside your bed. No, they were saying if you typed in, say, my cell phone number, they would tell you where in the world I was at the moment.
That could be very helpful—under certain circumstances.
Another company advertised that for less than $200, you could have an app that would monitor a mobile phone’s text messages, call logs, emails sent and received, and the location of the phone.
A parent can know where her children are. Or who is contacting them.
But, can you envision that being misused. I can without a moment’s hesitation.
There are now apps (everything is an app today) that can capture computer, smart phone and tablet activity and put it into a file on the Internet that you can access from your smart phone or tablet. They didn’t mean backing up your info. You would be capturing someone else’s data.
Again, I can see some good uses for this app. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist, or a lawyer, to see the incredible number of abuses for this app.
Some companies that make surveillance equipment are already selling governments
the ability to track the movements of almost anybody who carries a cell phone as they traveled around the world. And we’ve all heard the controversy that arose over the NSA capturing the cell call activity of almost everyone in the U.S., although they said it was only the numbers called and the length of the calls, not the actual conversation.
One company offered “remote monitoring,” up and running in ten minutes, and pay-as-you-go, no contract. It didn’t sound like a baby monitoring system.
I read another article recently that said big department stores would soon be able to track which isles you traveled and how much time you spent in a particular area, and even send you a text message suggesting some additional purchases, based on what you were looking at.
Personally, that’s help I do not want. 
In 1984, Big Brother was watching you. But it’s now 2014, and we’ve advanced in those 30 years. Now, anybody can track you and see what you text. I may ditch my cell phone.
—
I’d like to hear your comments on this “break-through. Or other great ideas that turn sour. Jim Callan
Recently I’ve been watching TV programs about bush people in Alaska and others who live on a far northern lake on house boats frozen into the ice for the winter. It looks like a pretty primitive life and one might ask, why do they do it? Rugged indikvidualism is part of the answer; but you’ve provided the other part-the other is they have private lives, something we don’t enjoy anymore. We are paying a steep price for advanced technology. I wish there were an alernative to freezing my b____ off for the winter just so I could do something others couldn’t know about.
I’m afraid you’d have to go to that extreme to get true privacy. Well, I don’t need that much. But, some? Even when we had party lines, it was only a few neighbors listening in. Oh well – progress?
The amount of such intrusiveness is definitely cause for concern. Not much we can do about it, though. I suppose every invention through history has posed threat to someone.
I’m afraid you are right on that. Each invention can be used for good, or misused. And you cannot stop progress – it’s in our DNA. Thanks for stopping by.
Excellent post, Jim. Ever watched Doomsday Preppers? Some of the things you’ve mentioned, I’m sure, are behind some of the Preppers. Personally? I don’t like what’s happening around us.
Most of us don’t like it, but as John said, not much we can do about it. I’ll have to look up Preppers. Thaks for the comment Marja.
More fuel for my fire, Jim. I recently wrote a post on my blog about why I don’t (and hope I never have to) have a cell phone. I called the post “The Need to Disconnect.” Whew! Dodged another bullet – at least for now. 🙂
No need to be discovered. Great sentiment. I think a lot of us feel that way. Thanks, Patricia, for visiting.
While modern technology is usually useful when we learn how to use it, what unscrupulous people can do with it is scary. Years ago we worried about hidden cameras and two-way mirrors in dressing rooms. Today we have surveillance cameras in parking lots, stores, intersections, everywhere. What can we do about it? I suspect we can’t do anything about it. It’s a sorry state we have invented ourselves into.
You’re right. Not much we can do. I wonder how many times a person in LA or New York gets photographed every day – without them ever knowing it. Thanks, Galand.
Provocative post – ours lives are not our own anymore. I’d add that the invention of guns (or any weapon, for that matter) turned into something most undesirable, too.
I’m sure the invention of explosives was a tremendous help to people when it first came into use. Today, it can often cause pain and suffering. Same with guns, as you mentioned. The cell phone? What a great invention. But then …
Thanks Darlene for stopping by.