Hack(ed), the Earth
Has anyone else noticed that it is now required to possess a telephone, and specifically a cell phone, in order to access Google, Facebook, and all other "major" Internet sites?
When did this happen? If a major announcement was made, I, along with most other people, missed it.
I had accounts on both sites since they were first started that I used for perfectly legal reasons, and now over a decade of personal data is lost to me because I simply refuse to use my or anyone else's phone to connect to the Internet. Because when I began using these services, there was no clue that one day they would be removed if I refused to disclose my physical location.
I am not alone in this.
Some serious DuckDuckGo searches later, I discovered that this is a real situation. People have been locked out of their accounts with no option to verify their account except a phone. I can still buy a burner phone, but unless I keep the number, the sites will just "re-verify" later and, without access to the number, I would be lost. And I have a strong feeling burner phones will not be available for that much longer.
What does this all mean? My thoughts turn to the (((Arab Spring))), to Edward Snowden, and finally to AI.
The Arab Spring is a name given to the phenomena of many Arabs using Facebook to enact social change. The Arab Spring was only possible because of the (then) pseudo-anonymity of Facebook. This is because when oppressive regimes can pin-point exactly who is causing social change (like with a cellphone, for example), they can easily silence the dissenters and no social change is possible.
So Facebook demanding a cell phone ensures that no group can ever use Facebook again to organize against a repressive regime safely. That is some hot coffee for you.
A lively discussion occurred with a friend where he was demanding to know why I cared so much if we could no longer use the Internet anonymously.
What do I have to hide that I am so concerned with all of our cell phones being wiretaps (as Edward Snowden revealed)? I tried to explain what a "principle" was and "liberty" and "privacy," but he is quite a bit younger than me and never actually lived in a world with privacy, so he needed a better example.
Lord Petyr Baelish taught me to assume the worst possible motivations of others first and to see how well they fit the given evidence. I taught myself to imagine what I would do if I were in their position. So here we go - hypothesis time.
The NSA/Illuminati/whatever are sucking up every data stream on the planet, including voice from cell phones. They have been for some time. "So what," my friend says. "You have done nothing wrong," and he is correct. I am a privacy advocate because I am worried about tomorrow, not today.
There will come a time when all of the data on Earth is centralized and easily accessible to those in power. That data will reach all the way back to the start of the Internet. Every conversation, every friend, every location, every address, absolutely everything about you will be known and there really will be no escape.
At that point, the "Thought Police" will have taken over and I could be arrested just for having known someone who did something wrong. Guilt by association.
I don't want any part of this (((New World Order))). If that means I cannot have a controversial conversation online or around any cell phones, so be it. I will be silent until it is no longer harmful to myself or others to be so. There are still some few forms of anonymity left and I value them more than what is left of the inter-webs.
And AI? Yes, AI.
There are many reports of hordes of bots imitating humans all over the Internet. Maybe that is why you need a cell phone now? Wishful thinking. I am inclined to think an added bonus of forcing us all to lose our privacy is that it would make any masquerading AIs much easier to detect.
I view this as an ancillary goal, unless of course that is the real goal because AI is already here. And even if AI does not turn out to be the revolution people like Tesla fear, it will still be the perfect tool to manipulate, sift, and categorize all of Earth's global data.
Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think.