01-24-2007, 04:04 PM
The virtual world is very dangerous, precisley because when your identity becomes a block of data, anyone can change that data and hence change who you 'are'.
I am big on technology, but I always keep in mind that technology is very dangerous. Your life basically depends upon a few powerful people. To get done over, all you need is for your information to get into the wrong hands (like in Echos' case), or for there to be a corrupt person accessing your data, or changing it.
This is why I consistantly defend against computarisation of data in everyday life:
- Tracking of where I have gone on my subway pass
- Identity data maintained by immigration officials (especially in the US and UK)
- even my credit report at the bank
So you are right to not trust easily. People who like technology in their everyday lives are people who trust. They are people who do not realise that all it takes is for your subway pass to be altered to put you at a crime scene at the time of a crime, or your bank account to be altered to put you in debt, or for one immigration officer to say you are a potential 'terrorist' for you to be hassled for the rest of your life.
I agree, paper is the way you should go. And that's true for everything (apart from money, in which case paper, and also online account data, are not as secure as the same value in gold).
I am big on technology, but I always keep in mind that technology is very dangerous. Your life basically depends upon a few powerful people. To get done over, all you need is for your information to get into the wrong hands (like in Echos' case), or for there to be a corrupt person accessing your data, or changing it.
This is why I consistantly defend against computarisation of data in everyday life:
- Tracking of where I have gone on my subway pass
- Identity data maintained by immigration officials (especially in the US and UK)
- even my credit report at the bank
So you are right to not trust easily. People who like technology in their everyday lives are people who trust. They are people who do not realise that all it takes is for your subway pass to be altered to put you at a crime scene at the time of a crime, or your bank account to be altered to put you in debt, or for one immigration officer to say you are a potential 'terrorist' for you to be hassled for the rest of your life.
I agree, paper is the way you should go. And that's true for everything (apart from money, in which case paper, and also online account data, are not as secure as the same value in gold).