Fact or Fiction… The Slow Cracking Of Our Tea Cups
Fact or Fiction- Can we tell the difference anymore? Maybe not in one of Brian Clark’s immersive advertising campaigns, but that aside I still find it hard to gauge where we are really going. And if we did know, would we even turn back?
Taking a break away from the usual news and spyware analysis as I recooperate and enjoy my Affiliate Summit Legend Award. (Thanks for all of your support and kind e-mails. I am truly honored and touched.) The award set off a number of reflections as I looked over my career in marketing and more and more about the state of online e-commerce and the Internet as a whole. It is like a delicate ecosystem. While some Internet Pollution can be tolerated, too much of it and we risk disaster- making the web unusable. Species die. Ideas wither and innovation comes in the guise of trickery and deceit for the sake of short-lived profit. I am a capitalist- I believe in profit, but I believe it must be obtained in a responsible fashion.
I recall my first few pristine days of the Internet back in 1988, when there was little need for distrust in a system designed around trust. (This hardly compares to the truly breath-taking days of the 300 baud modem I used with my father, Tony, a true home-brew hacker, back in 1982. Yes I was only twelve despite the grey hair you see now.)
Times have changed. I rarely hear the word netiquette- it is seems to be one of those concepts we are slowly killing off or a species we are sending to reservations like the blogosphere.
I have come to realize that people do not like it when you smash their best tea cups, but over time they are willing to accept small chips and even spidery cracks in their cups- as long as it holds tea. The same goes for their privacy. Take it away in small doses and chips and few will notice- save for a few fanatics and zealots. Que Facetime’s PaperGhost with guns and holy water.
This is the meaning of my tale today. I assure it is a bit less esoteric than my Rootkit Painting that now resides in the Louvre.
I would add the confusion around understanding the RootKit Painting is the core of the problem- lack of education and understanding of the technology we use. It is not entirely the fault of the user, since technology is moving faster than we can assimilate.
Find below a document intercepted by an anonymous courier (tongue-in-cheek of course). It was typed on a conventional typewriter because we know laser printers give out way to much hidden information. Of course it is mere fiction, or perhaps most of it is- look around at your digital world and decide for yourself.
To: Frank H. Smyth
From: Jeffrey M. Draper
Re: Organizational Control
Our original plan to inject systems into the dominant operating system have changed. Analysts have realized this could link The Project into one point of critical failure. We are unwilling to sacrifice convenience or expedience for control so we have put a tertiary plan into play- private enterprise. Through private capital, we will create an array of small, self-sustaining companies that will gather the information that will feed O/C using various technologies as they arise. Borrowing, if you will, from the ancient panem et circenses – bread and circuses.
We have started The Project using this basic postulate- The vast majority of consumers are willing to accept an exchange as long as they are able to make this trade-off in a currency they find of less value at that particular moment.
By using this strategy, it should be relatively easy to realize our goals of large-scale penetration. We will give away free digital pets, trendy screensavers, icons, games, shopping programs and helper software. Of course, the limitations of this project are substantial, encumbered by the companies’ creative limits.
To achieve critical mass we have identified the two primary digital goods as online music and online video. In the future, we will use known, popular artists to achieve our end goal and continue to grow our own stable of assets.
Furthermore, these goods are highly desired by a young audience who lack the ability to make careful decisions about the future impact of the trade-off, which is an added benefit to our strategy. O/C predicts in no more than two generations, resistance to privacy will be minimal to non-existent.
We are in negotiations with the needed distributors and believe we shall be able to strike amicable deals with the recording industry and the film industry to assist them to better monetize their goods especially in light of the on-going impact of digital piracy on their bottom line.
Also of note there have been three laws in Congress that could impact our form of monitoring. We have stymied these initiatives and Congress has taken no action. Neither will the FTC interfere any further except in the case of token rogues. We have also made excellent progress at putting insiders into key political positions including Homeland Security.
Once we have achieved critical mass we will be able to mine data on a meta-level and more importantly on a micro-level. We can also couple this information with information mined on the ISP level with our own field intelligence. Most importantly, in special situations, we can utilize customized routines to activate digital cams, microphones and other built-in surveillance equipment up to and including supplanting the means to apprehend problematic individuals before they do harm. Not only is this system more efficacious, but it is far cheaper in terms of monetary cost.
-JMD
Reference Reading for Readers on Bread and Circuses. Latin: panem et circenses. Courtesy Wikipedia
Bread and circuses is a derogatory phrase which can describe either government policies to pacify the citizenry, or the shallow, decadent desires of that same citizenry. In both cases, it refers to low-cost, low-quality, high-availability food and entertainment, and to the exclusion of things which the speaker considers more important, such as art, public works projects, democracy, or human rights.
It originated as the Latin phrase “panem et circenses” (literally “bread and circuses”), and is thought to have been coined by Juvenal, a Roman satiric poet of the 1st century AD, to describe the practice of Roman Emperors who gave unlimited free wheat to the poor and costly circus games as a means of pacifying the populace with food and entertainment. Juvenal bemoaned that it was a deplorable apathy towards heroism.
In fact, the system of free or heavily subsidized food distribution was limited to a minority of Roman Citizens holding a special token (tessera) entitling them to a monthly supply of grain and olive oil from the reign of Septimus Severus. The rations were probably too small to feed a family and the receivers were not necessarily poor or in need of free food. This does not change the fact that the food supply to a city the size of Rome was of primary concern to the emperors in order to avoid popular unrest.
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http://www.molanderassoc.com Jeff Molander
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http://www.yahoo.com Len Grubble
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http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author-exact=William%2 Derrill
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http://www.inc.com WadeRoe
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http://www.revenews.com/wayneporter/archives/001572.html ReveNews – Wayne Por
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The Oracle
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http://www.revenews.com/wayneporter Wayne Porter
