Are Big Brother & Big Tech the New Big Bully?

Society's new challenge of mass surveillance and data collection

Digital Men in Black

Years ago, there was a term coined --- “Big Brother” which meant the government was watching you. When they said “watching” they really meant it. Someone, an actual person, would have to stake you out and watch you with a camera, binoculars, etc.  If your conspiracy theories got to close to the truth, you would get a visit. They could also wire tap your phone. They would climb a telephone pole, add a few extra wires, and presto your conversations with friends and family are now also enjoyed by an unknown three letter agency. This type of surveillance back then was reserved for nut jobs or criminals.

Unfortunately, surveillance is not labor intensive anymore with the help of the modern day addiction to mobile phones. All the free apps that keep us connected and entertained, makes our lives an open book to both Big Tech and Big Brother as they work hand in hand collecting, monitoring, and processing the digital life activities of its customers and citizens.

For example, did you know every “ride share” ride is given to government agencies and questionable “supposedly private chats” are forwarded to the proper government departments?

If the government wants to collect private conversations and computer files from its citizens, I have no problem if they have a warrant. A judge needs to see evidence that you are a potential bad guy and suspends your right to privacy for the investigation. Fine. Unfortunately, Big Tech will give Big Brother anything they want anytime, no warrant, no due process needed.

But what do you have to hide? Nothing I suppose, but then why do you have passwords and curtains for your windows?

Bulling Examples

Location Tracking

Bullying can be in various forms, but one form is making sure you always have to check-in or else!

During COVID both the Canadian and US governments (and many others) collected the “anonymous” cell phone location data so they could track the movements of the population to see if they were following the rules. Think about that, the government knew where everyone was all the time, in a free society. The worst part especially in Canada was when they initially requested the data in 2020, they requested data prior to the pandemic (2019) and instituted collection until 2025. You pay your mobile phone bill so the government knows where you are all the time, as a free citizen. They try to make excuses of the seriousness of this privacy invasion by saying the data is anonymous or anonymized. Any data scientist worth their salt knows how to quickly de-anonymize this data if you were looking for someone.

For example: So now that the pandemic is over let’s say 500+ people like to meet in the woods once a month on private land doing nothing illegal, this activity can be now bubbled up to the government by our mobile phone providers. Why is that anyone’s business?

Netherlands: Socials Showing Have To Much Fun

The Netherlands government ran a program using AI to look at the public social media profiles of its citizens receiving government assistance benefits. If the AI determined from the social media content of the posts that you were living above the threshold for assistance you had your benefits cancelled automatically. Maybe you had a rich uncle who took you on a nice vacation and now you are banned from benefits by having too much fun.

Phone ID Collection

Project Stingray was a device used by the CIA and FBI to collect phone IDs from a targeted area. An agent could fire up a Stingray device, collect the IDs of every phone in the area. Because you were in the vicinity of the Stingray device you are on the perp list for further investigation. This information can be collected without even going to the telco with a warrant from a judge.

Nothing to Hide?

Many governments are looking to pass laws that would ban end to end encryption (technology that keeps your messages private) or be given a method to read every message on every phone anytime. No longer can you have an open conversation with your trusted inner circle without giving the government the ability to read it. Is the government the best stewards of all your private conversations? This is being explored in the UK, Canada, and Australia and rumblings in the US. Blows me away!

Big Bully?

Now that we are all addicted to the convenience of online services to manage our day to day lives which in turn feeds the economic engine of Big Tech and the surveillance obsession of governments --- they don’t want real privacy.

Big Tech and Big Brother can quickly not only get you banned from online services but core services you depend on like banking.

Social media will quickly ban you questioning the narrative of the day, banks will de-bank you, and online shops eliminate your ability to process credit cards and in Canada with Bill C-18 the government is even telling Big Tech openly what can be bubbled up in searches and content feeds.

Here is a quick list of recent bulling tactics:

• Taken off social media to limit your conversation reach

• In Canada, people had bank accounts frozen for giving as little as $25 to a cause that parked trucks in an inconvenient location. Froze people’s accounts for a $25 donation!

• Content Feed Filtering. They know what your online habits are and feed you information they think you should see.

• Modern Vehicles. Many new vehicles can be turned off by the manufacture remotely and generate as much as 25 gigabytes of data a day on your driving habits and routes.

• Future Digital ID. Required to access government and financial services. How does that get suspended? Can a future government turn off your drivers license or passport for non-compliance? More things are purely digital, the more compliant you must be with the threat of being excluded from society.

What does Bulling have to do with Privacy?

If you are publicly outspoken, or a public figure, or even mild mannered well known executive --- maybe a part of your life needs to be private and abstracted from your public/popular persona. Maybe critical financial and communication services need to be separate from your public profile so no matter what, you can enjoy life even if your public profile becomes bullied by big tech, big brother, hackers, activists, and online trolls. What is the balance of public and private online life? How do you protect this privacy?

If your online life was inherently private, then we would not be feeding “them” the information they need to be a bully as they would know very little about you and require a good old fashion warrant, permission, or proximity into our daily lives.

In Closing

The government no longer needs Men in Black to monitor those that are a threat to national security, they just monitor every single one of us with the help of Big Tech using our digital addictions.

With their unbridled power over everything online, how does the abuse of power become reigned in? Simple - Privacy - limiting the data they collect on you.

We are not the Borg, every activity we enjoy and every conversation we have does not need to be public, recorded and analyzed. Privacy is the enabler that allows freedom, individuality, and complex societies.

Privacy should be as easy as a conversation as you walk through the woods with your most trusted companions. Come on the journey with me as we explore enabling a private and digitally peaceful life.