Have You Any Privacy Any More?

On the Google engine for snooping on Chinese citizens linking Internet use to cell phone numbers.  Perhaps now, per the Google CEO on December 11, 2018, this engine may or may not be delivered to the Chinese government.  So what!

Do we not realize this engine, now apparently created, can be marketed to anyone, any country, any company, any agency, any party, any billionaire, with only few simple tweeks (aka adjustments)? 

Its very existence is not unlike a nuclear bomb.  If deployed, it could destroy millions of lives, level groups and companies, ruin governments, and decimate universities. 

China may have been a mere foil for Google to develop such a tool it could itself use – or sell. Do they not already sell customized versions of their search engine to private companies? Yes.  Do they not already sell search data to private merchants or politicians?  Yes.

Forget China.  For the power players of the world, let the bidding begin...

Logic.  Nonsense you say.  I get so much from Google for free.  I get gmail and search abilities for free.  Fantastic.  I just need to endure a bunch of ads, which I happily ignore.  YET, Google is nearly a trillion dollar company, nearly the richest company on the planet.  All that money comes from something, from somewhere, and in some way.  It is from information and contracts to provide it.

------------------

Hacking. Atop all this, maybe you believe to be a minor inconvenience, we still have massive hacking.  They say the only companies not hacked are those who simply don’t know they have been hacked. 

And who is to blame?  

Example. Marriott Intl recently admitted they were hacked to the tune of 500 million customers. They are so sorry.  Bull.  They have (financially) shorted their computer security so long and so pervasively, they were virtually a sitting duck, almost willing to be shot.  And who did it?  The Chinese experts hackers got this information. They do sell it.*  And who does the US blame?  The Chinese of course. They are blamed for their expertise at shooting fish in a barrel. Now Marriott is safe, blameless, having no information left to steal.  Secretly, Marriott incompetence is to blame.  

In summary, (1) you render your information willingly, (2) large corporations collect your information via phones and computers and more, (3) your information is hacked by third parties. 

It seems all the privacy you got left is stashed in a sock in the back of your closet.

* How do I know?  Recently charges were made to Marriott on one of my credit cards, happily one I rarely use and only for hotel expenses.  In this case, I had cancelled the card months before the charge. Recommend you report every credit card you have lost each and every year. Get a new one.