Invasion of the Data Snatchers

Tom Engelhardt posted this at his blog TomDispatch.com.  Kudos to Tom.  His is the best site on the internet and ranks alongside Yves Smith's NakedCapitalism.com.  In fact, Yves cross posted it from TomDispatch this morning.

Titled:  Invasion of the Data Snatchers, Big Data and the Internet of Things Means the Surveillance of Everything 

 It says everything that I think and have been writing about in various aspects on this blog.  It is the most important general statement about the nature of surveillance and where it is going that I have read so far.  

Money connects every aspect of our lives in some way or another and is what this blog is primarily about.  Surveillance is analogous to money in many ways.  So many ways that looking back on the entries in this blog there is a natural bridge from the nature of what money is and does to the nature of what surveillance is and does.  This obvious analog has not really appeared as writing on the wall until now when I see how the two intersect on a common denominator of power.  

They are both conceptual abstractions with denominated value relationships.  This is an interesting, even fascinating avenue of thought to pursue.  What money is and does has evolved over a long period of historical time.  Information has also evolved over the same period but is now evolving in orders of magnitude that are going beyond our general public perception or control.

The analysis ends with this statement:

"There’s simply no way to forecast how these immense powers -- disproportionately accumulating in the hands of corporations seeking financial advantage and governments craving ever more control -- will be used. Chances are Big Data and the Internet of Things will make it harder for us to control our own lives, as we grow increasingly transparent to powerful corporations and government institutions that are becoming more opaque to us."

That is wrong.  Probability forecast is simple based on the motivations involved:  Money and whatever public and private control the nature of information provides or a combination of the two.  Obviously, the cover excuse for control is public welfare, safety based on public fear and the nature of agencies to "protect" us.  

The forecast is written on the wall.  The nature of information is as complicated as the nature of money and the public is just as dumb about either one.  OK call it ignorant, uneducated or other more gentle term.  The few who understand it will rule.  Those that do not will be subjugated. 
We really are a dumb nation when it comes to money and information.  We have labeled the 1% that have the money.  Who are the 1% that have the information at their disposal?  Not so much individuals as institutions.