Nothing to hide? It's just as well...from the time we get up in the morning until we climb into bed at night we leave a trail of data behind us for others to collect, merge, analyze, massage and even sell, often without our knowledge or consent.
| 8:30
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Exit apartment parking lot — cameras, and possibly a card, record departure.
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| 8:35
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Pull onto toll highway — device records your entry and exit points to send bill at the end of the month.
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| 8:42
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Caught in traffic jam, call work to delay meeting — cellular phone calls can be easily intercepted; new personal telephones signal your whereabouts to satellites to deliver calls.
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| 9:17
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Enter office parking lot — card records entry and time, cameras monitor garage.
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| 9:20
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Enter main office/plant door — "Swipe" cards record comings and goings; active badges allow others to locate you anywhere in the building.
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| 9:25
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Log on to computer — system records time in.
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| 9:29
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Send personal e-mail to friend, business message to colleague — both can be read by the employer; simple deletion does not erase them from the computer's hard drive.
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| 10:45
|
Call your mother — supervisors may monitor phone calls.
|
| 11:00
|
Make a delivery using company vehicle — many company vehicles have geo-positioning devices to plot vehicle location; some have "black boxes".
|
| 12:05
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Stop at bank machine — system records details of transactions, cameras overhead or in machine record your behaviour.
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| 12:10
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Buy birthday gift for friend — credit card records details of purchase, retailer's loyalty card profiles purchase for points and directed discounts; banks may use spending patterns to help assemble complete customer profile.
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| 12:35
|
Doctor's appointment — health cards will soon contain small computer chips to record your complete medical history on the card, blood samples contain DNA which could be tested for wide variety of conditions, doctor's diagnosis may need to be disclosed to insurance company if you buy life or disability insurance and details sent to centralized registry run by insurance companies.
|
| 1:15
|
Pick up prescription — some provinces have on-line drug networks which share your drug history with pharmacies across the province and may be disclosed to police tracking drug abuse.
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| 1:30
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Return to work — card records your return.
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| 2:45
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Provide urine sample for employer's new drug testing program — reveals use of targeted drugs but not impairment; sample may also reveal use of legal drugs such as birth control pills, insulin and anti-depressants.
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| 3:30
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Meeting in secure area — pass through security which scans retina to confirm identity.
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| 5:30
|
Complete first draft of report — computer records content, can also store keyboard speed, error rate, length of pauses and absences.
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| 6:15
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Leave office — exit recorded by computer, entry system and parking lot.
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| 6:30
|
Buy groceries — debit card purchase recorded, loyalty card tracks selections for marketing and targeted discounts.
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| 6:45
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Pick up video — computer records viewing preferences, Social Insurance Number; store may sell your viewing preferences to other companies.
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| 7:20
|
Listen to phone messages — your phone has recorded callers' phone numbers, displays your number when you call others, unless you enter code to block the display.
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| 8:20
|
Order clothing from catalogue — company records personal details and credit card number and may sell the information to database-list-marketers.
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| 8:30
|
Subscribe to new magazine — many magazines routinely sell their subscribers' list to mass mailers.
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| 8:35
|
Survey company calls — company gathers political views, social attitudes and personal views. Some surveys are actually marketing calls to collect personal data for future sales. Legitimate surveys destroy personal identifiers once data processed.
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| 8:45
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Political canvasser at the door — political contributions of more than $100, amounts and the party, are listed in public records.
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| 9:10
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Log onto Internet — your choice of chat groups and your messages can be monitored and a profile assembled by anyone, including police; some Web sites monitor your visits.
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Increasingly, living a modern urban life seems to mean there is nowhere to hide. In our search for security and convenience, are we hitching ourselves to an electronic leash?
