I’ve been thinking about this issue for a long time because I’ve suffered from intellectual property theft and have hired lawyers in the past over issues with others copying my work on the web by using the DMCA Clinton signed into law in the late 1990’s. Now I’m looking at it from a different angle that favors individual rights over corporate domination. This legal avenue probably won’t help those who voluntarily surrender their rights for mere social media trinkets. I opted out of Facebook and Twitter and that’s what you’ll have to do if you want to have any privacy whatsoever.

The occasion for this post is the result of the battery swelling on my Android phone and visiting Verizon to see what that was about. I’ve long known about the attacks and lack of privacy of such devices and so I’ve had a habit of keeping very little info on it. I might consider getting a cloak phone if it comes out, but otherwise I plan on going back to a cell phone when my Android dies. I pretty much only use it to check cryptocurrency prices and for Google Authenticator. I’ve just ordered a Yubico which is a more secure option which will make the old 2FA apps obsolete (as far as I’m concerned).

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There were only two people at Verizon, the service rep and a middle aged lady. I asked about taking the battery out of the Android and apparently this is impossible. I used to have the habit of doing this with my cell phones, then somewhere along the way I noticed that it was getting harder to find models with removable batteries. Now ask yourself why that is. Seems to me more wasteful to be forced to throw away an entire device just because of battery failure. Planned obsolescence? Or is this the surveillance state making back room deals to force their human cattle to remain plugged in for surveillance at all times? Well, micro faraday cages may be the next step.

The lady seemed to surmise my concerns about privacy (probably noting the black electrical tape over both cameras). She asked “what are you trying to hide?”. I said “everything”. She didn’t make a good impression on me at first, but either my forthrightness or my scary countenance changed her attitude (I look like someone you’d never want to meet in a dark alley; a former superheavyweight power lifter (6’4” 328 lbs at my peak), but considerably slimmer now, like Lou Ferrigno is now at retirement age). I didn’t go into all the reasons why, but it got me thinking about the other side of the question which instead of privacy, involved financial exploitation.

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You’ve probably heard the phrase from Capital One: “what’s in your wallet?”. None of your damned business is my attitude about it (and if you want to know, I will extract a heavy price for that information). That’s what they want to know because knowledge is power and giving away too much puts you at an extreme disadvantage. Information has become practically the most important commodity in the world now. The ruling elites already have it all. What more can they own? Well, it turns out that they want to buy and own you next. And that comes in the form of all of the digital information that you put out there every day, from geolocation data on your Android that tracks and even predicts future movements, to building a psychological profile, social credit scores, threat scores, etc…

There was a recent case where Woody Harrelson’s digital image was stolen by law enforcement and used to catch a beer thief. In the past, I seem to recall that some famous person sued over the use of their image due to violation of some sort of trademark or copyright issue and I wonder if Woody would have a case here that is pursuable. Now we know that copyright cannot be used in the case of protecting raw “facts”. If this was the case, courts could be restricted from finding truth because some corporation “owns” a particular fact. I was closely connected to such a case in 2011 over my software because Astrolabe claimed that they owned time zone information in the case Astrolabe v Olson.

Terran Atlas software

Raw facts cannot be protected in this way, but what happens when information creates a unique “digital fingerprint”? Is this not the unique aggregation of data that is protected by copyright? Facts or ideas themselves cannot be protected, but the form of that data should be protectable and if that data is of a person, then the natural owner of that data should have control of that digital fingerprint. Failure to own this data will make you a slave to anyone who does own this data. I’m not aware of any case pursuing this avenue at the current time.

Why is this important? In any financial negotiation (picture dealing with a car sales clerk) the less information you give the better. They might ask “how much are you willing to spend?” and if you answered with a value, then you just told them how much they can take you for and they will work to increase the margin of the cost against your upper value to profit themselves the most. They will work to get rid of the items in their lot that they’ve had the hardest time selling, which means you’re more likely to get a lemon. The correct answer should be ”it depends upon how much what you’re offering is worth”. This keeps the dealer in the dark as to what you’re willing to part with. Lack of information forces them to stick more to the value of what they are offering and less on you and your psychological weaknesses. You should be the one asking the questions, not the other way around.

It’s the same way with any parasite or middleman. Those not offering true value tend to use information against you.

So if someone asks what your hiding, tell them that you want to make them pay for it, instead of stealing that information and using it against you. Just as bitcoin has become a “content type”, your information is now money that you’re just allowing corporations and governments to steal with impunity. That information is worth a great deal to authorities and you’re just giving it away to them. Don’t be such a fool and learn to drive a hard bargain.

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3FwxQsa7gmQ7c1GXJyvDTqmT6CM3mMEgcv

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