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