Behind the private walls of sandcastles
While I am working very hard, my wife has taken a day off using some of her banked hours from when she was working the weekends. She was meant to be paid for them, but something went awry in the accounting system - I would have preferred her to get paid - but I don't think she is complaining. This morning she headed off to run some errands and surprise surprise, ended up at a cafe sipping tea in the morning sun.
She even posted about it, on Instagram and then when she got home, showed me something that stood out to her as something that I would find interesting? Can you pick it?
What are the chances?
"ALE" means SALE by the way.
Image recognition has advanced a very long way over the last two decades and I find the technology interesting, albeit very harmful in a number of ways. Most of us have probably considered the risks of facial recognition before and think that we are protecting our kids by not putting their images online, but with the amount of unmanned and high resolution cameras of other people taking shots of us all of the place, as well as us putting images in private chats as if they are private, are we actually protecting them, or are we just providing ourselves a false sense of security? If you consider how accurate Google reverse image search is, do you think that they are putting their best into the public sphere?
What they are essentially doing is mapping components of every image online (not just faces) and finding similarities that can be used as metadata to collect, sort, filter and distribute - and then you see headlines like this:
So just think, not only are they tracking search terms and websites, but every image one views is also cataloged, meaning that with a few data points, it is possible for them to have a very good understanding of every preference we have - even in incognito mode. If Facebook can tell if someone is likely clinically depressed from a few status updates, what can they tell through which images we look at, how often we look at them and for how long. What's your kink?
As I have mentioned before, these data collectors have developed digital avatar representations of us with every little bit of data we ever transmit on the internet attached to it, like the red string of a blood splatter expert to discover how a horrific murder took place. However, there is more to it than that, with all of the camera rolling in streets, in stores and through our cell phones, no matter where we appear, it is possible for an AI to search, find and then pin another string to the Kewpie doll - as well as cross-reference it with all other faces and images.
This refinement of technology has the potential to put these organizations in unassailable positions of informational power. For reference, that potential 5 billion dollar lawsuit amounts to around three weeks of Google's revenue - no more than a slap on the wrist - or perhaps a firm handshake.
The data we generate isn't valuable because of what we post, it is valuable because of the networks we create, as it is those that become conduits to disseminate information, but perhaps more importantly, a highly distributed data set that allows for every trend to be picked up on as it happens in near real-time. At the same moment it discovers an opportunity, or what a business will call a lead, it pushes a product (or an idea) precisely where it needs to go at a highly granular level. Each of us have our own virtual magazine tailored specifically for our unique eyes to fit our unique set of preferences. It is very convenient.
While we "fight" for our digital privacy, what we are actually doing is just protecting ourselves from each other, while under the surface that we cannot see, the data collectors just keep on collecting. And even if a person is careful (even the experts can't avoid Google for long), there are so many indirect points of data collected and secondary sources, that it really doesn't matter. Going off-grid where there are no cameras might help, but if you have an internet connection, you aren't off the grid, you are in the "digital pen" with the rest of us.
There is unfortunately very little way around being tracked and connected, regardless of how careful we think we are being, but I think that on Hive we are moving in a better direction through transparency. Yes, it is far from perfect but the only reason that the data is as valuable as it is as while there is an unlimited supply of it, there are only a few holders that restrict the flow onto the markets, like De Beers does with diamonds - The illusion of scarcity to keep the price high.
The world of increasingly precise technology combined with increasingly powerful AI is changing our world in front of our eyes, by putting our world in front of our eyes. The most powerful form of control is to make people believe that the idea is their own, that they themselves have agency - Even if all we ever choose is what is suggested to us.
We are hidden in a sandcastle, believing we can stop the wave.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
So amazing to read this and so amazingly true.
This is something that I also want to spread to the other NGO's here, at least the ones that are on the internet with all of their phobias, just to make them understand that everything that they have ever done on the internet is logged somewhere by someone.]
Thank you and bookmarked to go and rock the "security" boat with!
The world of data is so complicated and obscured, that it is hard to know what is truth and fiction, which are prime conditions for manipulation and control through segmentation of populations. No need to use force when the people force each other.
!ENGAGE 25
Thank you kindly Sir @tarazkp
ENGAGEtokens.Thank you kindly @tarazkp
The title reminded me of a song that i played in my head as i read the post. It's interesting the turn that this took based on the title... which is awesome. I don't know if you are familiar with this song but it's pretty deep for being old-school. In my mind, i think of the digital sea of data that you described when i consider how the lyrics merge with the sentiments you expressed. Jimi's music doesn't often stay on youtube long due to copyright issues so you may check this out before they take it down if you are interested.
Here are the the lyrics...
[Verse 1]
Down the street you can hear her scream "You're a disgrace"
As she slams the door in his drunken face
And now he stands outside
And all the neighbors start to gossip and drool
He cries "Oh girl, you must be mad
What happened to the sweet love you and me had?"
Against the door he leans and starts a scene
And his tears fall and burn the garden green
[Chorus]
And so castles made of sand fall in the sea eventually
[Verse 2]
A little Indian brave who before he was ten
Played war games in the woods with his Indian friends
And he built a dream that when he grew up
He would be a fearless warrior, Indian Chief
Many moons passed, and more the dream grew strong until
Tomorrow he would sing his first war song and fight his first battle
But something went wrong, surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night
[Chorus]
And so castles made of sand melts into the sea eventually
[Verse 3]
There was a young girl whose heart was a frown
Because she was crippled for life
And she couldn't speak a sound
And she wished and prayed she could stop living
So she decided to die
She drew her wheelchair to the edge of the shore
And to her legs she smiled you won't hurt me no more
But then a sight she'd never seen made her jump and say
Look a golden winged ship is passing my way
And it really didn't have to stop, it just kept on going
[Outro]
And so castles made of sand slips into the sea, eventually
I wonder what the new digital castles will be in the new wild wild west of the manifest destiny being erected around us!? Speaking of being erected...
... there was more than information and data being disseminated!
Incognito My Ass SMH
Did You Know?
Adverb or adjective
The ancient Greeks and Romans knew that there were times when you didn't want to be recognized. For example, a myth tells how Zeus and Hermes visited a village incognito and asked for lodging. The apparently penniless travelers were turned away from every household except that of a poor elderly couple named Baucis and Philemon, who provided a room and a feast despite their own poverty. The Romans had a word that described someone or something unknown (like the gods in the tale): incognitus, a term that is the ancestor of our modern incognito.
I don't know the song, but I have probably heard it before sometime. I am musically challenged and only listen to Justin Bieber ;D
I think that a lot of people on Hive don't realize how many large accounts roam on an alt from time to time to see what is going on in incognito mode. People seem to look at Rep and HP before responding - at their own cost. They think they are playing the game well by targeting. In my opinion, being generous with time and effort with everyone is more rewarding.
You have always been the most generous active member that I have met and extremely community and initiative minded. I promise i am not always trying to butter you up... but it's true man and just giving credit where it's due. I know how difficult it was for me to learn blockchain lingo and code to post and in fact i almost forgot most of what i learned because of my extended leave.
But for those reasons i have always tried to spend some of my upvoting on new accounts and those that are being onboarded because it can be discouraging for new folks when they learn and apply themselves and then don't get any activity on their efforts. I am still trying to manage my time effectively so i hope to grow more and more active like it was back then. I always know my time will not go to waste when i read any of your prolific posts.
I appreciate the wide variety of content this platform provides. I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned the big folks going around and checking things out and seeing what there is to see. It's not hard for y'all that are good at seeing the backend of things to notice what's Really going on in many of the attempts to just exploit the system and garner growth in a disingenuous way. It's even worse when one can see it from the front end.
I have noticed that it seems Hive has kind of refined the user base to those that have always and will continue to care about what the opportunity provided is really all about. Hopefully, we will be able to keep it that way. I still have much catching up to do in figuring out what all changes i need to be privy to. I want to upvote your comment but don't think my upvote is worth a penny and not sure if that would be a throw away upvote... stuff like that. The last thing i will say is that thank God and whomever is responsible for making the markdown and Css code native in the editor! That is really going to help save a lot of people a LOT OF TIME!
Sorry/not sorry for the book here! hahahah
Did you get a chance to put Justin Beaver down and listen to the song? If so what did you think?
!ENGAGE 30
ENGAGEtokens.I love how the Finns take a perfectly legit word like sale, take off the S to make in ale then declare it has the same meaning.
Totally logical.
:D
They have a lot of loan words from other languages, as does English. Technically - I think this one might be a coincidence as "Alennus" means discount. Generally though, adding an "i" on the end is enough - like Bussi, Banaani...
I recall having a laugh as were walking around Helsinki with you back when. It's just another language, and I intend no disrespect...Hey, we're Aussies, it's not like we're perfect...Or are we? Lol.
All languages are a mess - best not to talk to anyone.
Yeah, I'd do that if I could get away with it.
Even if you've never been online, people who have your phone number are; and have mentioned you in private messages. It won't be a fleshed out profile, but it's there, just waiting for any new info. Background of a stranger's instagram photo, for example.
If yours is the only unidentifed face in the photo, and a friend mentioned to another friend that you were at the event, then that image will be tagged to your profile with a confidence score. (chance that its you)
It is like a magnet that attracts iron filings - slivers of information that come together to build a mass and the more that stick, the more that will.
What they are doing on a mass level through "confidence score" is building a web of trust except the "trust" is how well they can leverage the position.
!ENGAGE 30
ENGAGEtokens.Sometimes I feel like, google might actually be the illuminaty. There, I had to say it. Lol
In all seriousnes, where does it end? Like I have been watching some woodturning videos and now my feeds are flooded with equipments and tools for making wooden vases. I emailed a bunch of weird looking burgers, like sands between the buns as a simple joke. Now I get so many fast food ads everywhere and mainly ads of burgers.
Its like skynet in the making. A perfect digital primordial soup for a perfect ai. Only this one wil kill us with tailored ads. XDXD
They very well might be or, they have stolen the title by collecting all the data on the real illuminati :D
Death by
chocolatedigital chokehold!ENGAGE 20
Src
That much tape is never a good sign..lol. We are living in a dystopia of our own making.
Ah lol, I haven't seen that before :)
!ENGAGE 15
ENGAGEtokens.@zayedsakib What is the tape on the bottom side for?
The mic i think.. I have no idea though.
Ahhhh that makes perfect sense! I am pretty sure you would be correct. Thanks for sharing that image. It makes me shake my head and facepalm at the same time. I am sure he is more directly targeted by hacker though too... just to be fair. But if it's good for the goose... it's good for the gander! hahahah Have a great weekend!
In Matthew McConaughey's voice it is what it is...lol..
ENGAGEtokens.The only way out of this would be to cut off technology and live in a cabin in the mountains with bare necessities covered.Quite far fetched.
I think it is indeed a reality happening and the only way around it is for us to control what we search and where we search it. And more than that.. Why we search it in the first place. Behind every online gesture there is always a why. And holding onto that why, there is it the source of priceless power:information.
And impossible for 7 billion people.
there are kids of friends who spend hours each week watchingadverts on YouTube for new products...
And then asking "why" would lead you towards the parents. Why the kids watch it? Why the parents allow it? Why is it like this? And the answers will give you an intimate peak in the dynamics of the family. And their consumption habits. And their mentality. All from a simple why....
Hi. I hadn't given much thought to the fact that a person can be analyzed by the images viewed online and for how long. Also, mistakenly thinking that covering up your camera on your Chromebook will guard you against being detected online is almost like you stated in your post "hiding behind a sand castle."
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the subject of online privacy. Have a nice rest of your weekend.