Ill be happy. Or would you be comfortable paying by credit card for a copy of 2600? How long before ashcroft starts checking up on those "obvious" criminals.
"How long"
Every single copy of 2600 I get in the mail is opended by Canadian customs, along with all videos and CDs I order from the 2600 store. I order alot of online stuff and this only happens with 2600 and once with Adbusters.
You'd have to be out of your mind to buy a copy of 2600 with a credit card. Are you oblivious to the digital slime trail that your daily activities are leaving behind you? How many lists do you think you're on?
Some idiots in the government recently examined all of Safeway's California customer relations management files and compiled a list of people in California who had bought hummus [weblogsky.com] of all things. You think they won't ask Barnes and Noble for a list of people who have purchased copies of 2600? The goons who are searching for hummus eaters will certainly find you. Think you have nothing to hide? Then you'll have no problem with letting them in when they show up at your door after the 4th Amendment has been legislated away!
You've probably got a big red flag next to your name in a number of databases. But maybe you can repair the damage. I suggest you get your CC out right now and use it to buy 50 copies of "A Charge To Keep" [barnesandnoble.com]. This will prove to the Attorney General that you're one of the sheep who won't cause any trouble and who deserves to keep his citizenship after PATRIOT II passes.
Next time you buy 2600, make sure you've got your tinfoil hat on first!
David Chaum [chaum.com] has been concerning himself with these issues for years. If you read some [chaum.com] of his [cs.tcd.ie] writings [komarios.net] you will find that he shares your concerns.
Rather than badly paraphrase his thinking, I'll just quote the introduction to "Security without Identification":
Computerization is robbing individuals of the ability to monitor and control the ways information about them is used. Already, public and private sector organizations acquire extensive personal information and exchange it amongst themselves. Individuals have no way of knowing if this information is inaccurate, outdated, or otherwise inappropriate, and may only find out when they are accused falsely or denied access to services. New and more serious dangers derive from computerized pattern recognition techniques: even a small group using these and tapping into data gathered in everyday consumer transactions could secretly conduct mass surveillance, inferring individuals' lifestyles, activities, and associations. The automation of payment and other consumer transactions is expanding these dangers to an unprecedented extent.
Organizations, on the other hand, are attracted to the efficiency and cost-cutting opportunities of such automation. Moreover, they too are vulnerable, as when cash, checks, consumer credit, insurance, or social services are abused by individuals. The obvious solution for organizations is to computerize in ways that use more pervasive and interlinked records, perhaps in combination with national identity cards or even fingerprints. But the resulting potential for misuse of data would have a chilling effect on individuals. Nevertheless, this is essentially the approach of the electronic payment and other automated systems now being tried. Although these systems will require massive investment and years to complete, their underlying architecture is already quietly being decided and their institutional momentum is growing.
This momentum is driving us toward a seemingly irreconcilable conflict, between organizations' need for security and the benefits of automation on one side, and individuals' need for ensured privacy and other protections on the other. But this conflict may be avoided by early adoption of a fundamentally different approach to automating transaction systems. This new approach is mutually advantageous: it actually increases organizations' benefits from automating, including improved security, while it frees individuals from the surveillance potential of data linking and other dangers of unchecked record keeping. Its more advanced techniques offer not only wider use at reduced cost, but also greater consumer convenience and protection. In the long run, it holds promise for enhancing economic freedom, the democratic process, and informational rights.
Of course the technology Chaum advocates is not the only way to conduct monetary (and other) transactions. You can be sure that there are powerful forces that would like nothing better than to have improved access into people's private business. At the very least, people should realize there are other options.
AS long as thay have anonomous cash (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:AS long as thay have anonomous cash (Score:3, Informative)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/02/08/213
Re:AS long as thay have anonomous cash (Score:1)
Re:AS long as thay have anonomous cash (Score:1)
Re:AS long as thay have anonomous cash (Score:1)
Retail purchase databases are pretty much the same thing as credit card reports to their system.
If you bought 2600, you'll still get a flag on your file that says 'hacker type'...
Re:AS long as thay have anonomous cash (Score:5, Insightful)
Some idiots in the government recently examined all of Safeway's California customer relations management files and compiled a list of people in California who had bought hummus [weblogsky.com] of all things. You think they won't ask Barnes and Noble for a list of people who have purchased copies of 2600? The goons who are searching for hummus eaters will certainly find you. Think you have nothing to hide? Then you'll have no problem with letting them in when they show up at your door after the 4th Amendment has been legislated away!
You've probably got a big red flag next to your name in a number of databases. But maybe you can repair the damage. I suggest you get your CC out right now and use it to buy 50 copies of "A Charge To Keep" [barnesandnoble.com]. This will prove to the Attorney General that you're one of the sheep who won't cause any trouble and who deserves to keep his citizenship after PATRIOT II passes.
Next time you buy 2600, make sure you've got your tinfoil hat on first!
Re:AS long as thay have anonomous cash (Score:1)
Re:AS long as thay have anonomous cash (Score:3, Insightful)
Rather than badly paraphrase his thinking, I'll just quote the introduction to "Security without Identification":
Computerization is robbing individuals of the ability to monitor and control the ways information about them is used. Already, public and private sector organizations acquire extensive personal information and exchange it amongst themselves. Individuals have no way of knowing if this information is inaccurate, outdated, or otherwise inappropriate, and may only find out when they are accused falsely or denied access to services. New and more serious dangers derive from computerized pattern recognition techniques: even a small group using these and tapping into data gathered in everyday consumer transactions could secretly conduct mass surveillance, inferring individuals' lifestyles, activities, and associations. The automation of payment and other consumer transactions is expanding these dangers to an unprecedented extent.
Organizations, on the other hand, are attracted to the efficiency and cost-cutting opportunities of such automation. Moreover, they too are vulnerable, as when cash, checks, consumer credit, insurance, or social services are abused by individuals. The obvious solution for organizations is to computerize in ways that use more pervasive and interlinked records, perhaps in combination with national identity cards or even fingerprints. But the resulting potential for misuse of data would have a chilling effect on individuals. Nevertheless, this is essentially the approach of the electronic payment and other automated systems now being tried. Although these systems will require massive investment and years to complete, their underlying architecture is already quietly being decided and their institutional momentum is growing.
This momentum is driving us toward a seemingly irreconcilable conflict, between organizations' need for security and the benefits of automation on one side, and individuals' need for ensured privacy and other protections on the other. But this conflict may be avoided by early adoption of a fundamentally different approach to automating transaction systems. This new approach is mutually advantageous: it actually increases organizations' benefits from automating, including improved security, while it frees individuals from the surveillance potential of data linking and other dangers of unchecked record keeping. Its more advanced techniques offer not only wider use at reduced cost, but also greater consumer convenience and protection. In the long run, it holds promise for enhancing economic freedom, the democratic process, and informational rights.
Of course the technology Chaum advocates is not the only way to conduct monetary (and other) transactions. You can be sure that there are powerful forces that would like nothing better than to have improved access into people's private business. At the very least, people should realize there are other options.
I'm Not Afraid of Ashcroft... (Score:3, Funny)
Of course, what I'm really afraid of is that my wife may be the highest bidder. "What's this? You bought a pak of cigarettes, 3 beers and a Maxim?"