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Perfecting The Surveillance Society – One Payment At A Time
Wolf Richter www.testosteronepit.com www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter
Governments and corporations, even that genius app developer in Russia, have one thing in common: they want to know everything. Data is power. And money. As the Snowden debacle has shown, they’re getting there. Technologies for gathering information, then hoarding it, mining it, and using it are becoming phenomenally effective and cheap.
But it’s not perfect. Video surveillance with facial-recognition isn’t everywhere just yet. Not everyone is using a smartphone. Not everyone posts the details of life on Facebook. Some recalcitrant people still pay with cash. To the greatest consternation of governments and corporations, stuff still happens that isn’t captured and stored in digital format.
But there is one place in the world where their wildest dreams are coming true, one place that is getting closer to the ideal where every purchase is tracked ... by a single device. That place isn’t a well-organized dictatorship or an overly paternalistic state where everyone is required to possess a national ID. In fact, it’s barely a state at all, dysfunctional in many aspects, catastrophic in others, decades behind in many ways, with people who are often desperately poor and illiterate: Somaliland.
There are barely any classic telephones – those devices with cords hanging out incongruously. Or banking services. Fiber-optic cables? Hardly. Copper cables? They’d just get stolen and sold for scrap. Credit cards? Useless. It declared its independence from Somalia in 1991 but hasn’t been recognized. Yet, payment by cellphone is becoming standard.
This phenomenon – widespread use of cellphones for a broad array of services, including mobile payments – is new, rapidly expanding, and for Africa, revolutionary. It has allowed people to leapfrog decades of painstaking technological development. And it has been widely reported with a mix of admiration and head-shaking; the latest in The Globe and Mail, which recounted how easy and common it is to use a basic cellphone for nearly all purchases, at stores or street vendors, to pay for a bus ticket or a shoeshine or some khat for a torpid afternoon high.
“We never handle a single dollar in cash,” explained Moustapha Osman Guelleh, COO of Coca-Cola’s local bottler. About 80% of its sales to distributors are handled via Zaad, the mobile payment service of the largest cellphone operator, Telesom. The rest are handled via bank transfers. “We don’t have any issues of having to keep cash in a safe,” he said. The company even pays its employees via Zaad. A cashless company, in an increasingly cashless society.
“What amazes me is that even illiterate people have learned how to use it,” said Khader Aden Hussein, general manager of the Ambassador Hotel in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland. The hotel pays all of its 300 employees and nearly half of his suppliers via Zaad.
They have their reasons. Text messages immediately confirm the transaction to both parties. Zaad transactions are in US dollars, eliminating the need to count and deal with wads of soggy crinkled shillings. It’s secure – well, at least it’s encrypted. Crime that targets cash is becoming unprofitable. Security improves. Subscribers prepay, so credit risk for the company is zero. Credit risk for subscribers is another matter, but hey. And Telesom’s servers capture every bit of data and retain it forever.
Mobile payments are becoming common in other parts of Africa: 17 million Kenyans use them, out of a working-age population (15 or older) of 25 million. What’s happening in Africa – getting rid of cash – is every government’s dream: no more anonymous transactions. It would end the underground economy, black markets, or smuggling. Small-time tax evaders would lose an important tool. Eliminating cash would be useful in the war on drugs or terror, or in any other such “war” on products or strategies. Even “anonymous” virtual currencies have to pass through internet service providers and leave a digital trail, unlike cash. If only cash could be eliminated!
But the killer technology isn’t the elimination of cash. It’s the combination of payment data and the information stream that cellphones, particularly smartphones, deliver. Now everything is tracked neatly by a single device that transmits that data on a constant basis to a number of companies, including that genius app developer in Russia – rather than having that information spread over various banks, credit card companies, etc. who don’t always eagerly surrender that data. Eventually, it might even eliminate the need for data brokers. At that point, a single device knows practically everything. And from there, it’s one simple step to transfer part or all of this data to any government’s data base.
Opinions are divided over whom to distrust more: governments or corporations. But one thing we know: mobile payments and the elimination of cash, a quantum leap for Somalis in their quest for modern life, will also make life a lot easier for governments and corporations in their quest for the perfect surveillance society.
Both cooperate in their quest. For example, Keyhole Inc., a venture-capital funded startup, was acquired by Google in 2004. Its product became Google Earth. Its technology filtered into Google Maps and Google Mobile. One of the investors? The CIA. And Snowden’s disclosures shed new light on these arrangements. Read.... Tech Companies And Their Love Affair With The NSA and CIA
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"... as the Snowden debacle shows, are phenomenally effective and cheap..."
Cheap? The intelligence community is immune from sequestering and any cuts receiving tens of billions...
Russ Tice Reveals the Truth About NSA Spying
Gosh I thought he was talking about New Zealand phew Somaliland!
Watched a documentary on the telescreen the other night, filled with anti-gun propaganda, basically about some aussie bloke that went to the US and now works there as a policeman.
According to the doco, he earns 30 grand per year as a cop. (I don't know if that is a good, average or bad wage over there. Suggests to me that he can afford to buy a house over there for $125 grand. Anyone?) The doco says its not enough money so this guy also works ... at a GUNSHOP!!! So think about that when you pay cash to maintain your privacy.
Don't get me wrong, I love cash. I hate CCs. I had to earn my money. If banks want to play with my money then they should also have to earn it. Who are "the banks" to force their nose into my business? Back to the story ...
So the easiest way for cops to spy on cash people is just to have a second job at a normal shop. This was not my first thought.
My default attitude is that I like cops ( got a few friends that are cops ), and believe most are honest people trying to do the right thing. But what happens if a good, honest policeman can not afford to buy a house, and support a wife and family? Well, being good and honest, the first thing he does is take a second and third job, right? And then he works too many hours, doesn't have time to concentrate on the crooks he's supposed to be catching, wife and kids get upset because he's never home and always too stressed out, tired ... leads to divorce, more bills, more stress ... or he quits his job and does something else for a living that pays a decent wage. So what kind of cops are left in the police force? The kind you meet in "other" countries?
If the cops earn decent money, and can afford to support their house and wives and kids, you have a decent chance of meeting good ones. As wages go down, so do those odds. But we don't have to stop there. Compare the wages of the cops with the wages of the rest of the community. That will tell another story again. And if cops are taking second jobs to supplement their income, that tells another story again.
errr, am I still On Topic? I seem to have drifted off there a little bit ...
Years ago you could lose your job with IBM if you cashed your pay check in the wrong place. Who knows what is deemed a no no in the dozens of data bases today. Suppose you wrote a check to the NRA but have never had a background check to purchase a gun. Is that probable cause to search your home for an illegal weapon? Suppose you bought some gold from a dealer and the govt. wants to make it illegal to own gold several year later, again the search warrant. Suppose you are turned down for security clearance can not get a certain job, but the govt. refuses to reveal the reason. What if no reason must be given other than they claim someone else was better qualified that just happened to be registered in a certain political party.
Barter
I have always liked paying with cash. Seemed like the "manly" way to live; "cash on the barrelhead", "cash talks, BS walks", sale is complete and no snoopy busybodies, etc. Acts as a kind of impulse governor; if it's not in your wallet you don't need it. Even paying with cash many establishments ask for name / phone number / zip. Saying "no" works with only the occasional suspicious / irritated look or smart-alec comment.
I recently needed a new battery for one of my old beaters and dreaded the inevitable questions.
First try:
Take old battery to Walmart. Select good quality battery. Place cash on counter.
Poor Young Schlub behind counter: "Phone number?"
Me: "No number. No name."
Schlub: "We need it for the warranty."
Me: "Don't care. Don't need it." Apparently needing a number to proceed I tell schlub to enter "123-456-7890". Mashes keys lamely. Register locks up. Calls over supervisor.
Super: Clears register and we go through same routine. Mashes keys lamely and can't make it work. Calls over second super by YELLING, "Hey this guy doesn't have an ID. How do we sell him a battery?"
Me: Irritated, and seeing my attempt at anonymity spiraling badly out of control I grab my cash and old battery and huff out. Last view is of super and schlub looking at me with open mouthed shock. I half expect to be swarmed by Walmart SWAT in parking lot.
Second try:
Drive to big auto parts chain store. The equivalent battery to the one from Walmart is $40 more. I select a lesser (smaller physically and in capacity) unit.
Same exact routine. The smarter schlub behind the counter can handle it. At the "don't want the warranty" he cancels the transaction and tosses the receipt that prints out into the trash (with annoyance). Tosses new receipt on counter and walks off without looking at me. Somewhat humiliated I slink out wondering if I won or lost.
A couple months later I decide the lesser battery was a bad choice and go to Sears.
Clerk: "Phone number?"
Me: Give number. Records come up instantly. Get best Sears battery. Lay down cash.
Clerk: Offers to install battery. Offers to carry battery to car. Holds door for me on way out. Fast. Efficient. Excellent product. Excellent service. Smiles all around.
Me: Sigh.
P.S. First post on Fight Club after lurking for a couple years. Not a fight on Fight Club but a story about a fight, that left me bloody and bruised, that I lost.
Thanks Tylers and club members for great info and comments.
PS:
Sears battery catchs fire and burns car to a cinder.
Insurance disallows claim for false phone number.
The End.
When i retired , i got rid of my phone which employers insisted that i have so they could call me for emergency work. I tried to get a credit card and found that they would not issue one unless you gave them a phone number so i gave them the number of the local library. Credit card soon arrived in the mail.
youre an idiot just come up with a handy use everywhere fake number.
DUH
But the globalist banksters aren't going to go for it because they are the ones running the drugs. That's how the CIA gets paid. What are the banksters going to do say sorry CIA and black ops we can't afford you any longer?
In Africa the intention is control of resources so there at this time electronic transactions help prevent competition from foreign power structures. In the US and EU they have to leave it as much cash only as possible at this time.
Amusing ... imagine all the loose change in peoples pockets to world over all being put together. All those coins that fell begind the couch or stuck in a jar. A billion? a trillion? Now leverage that mother up 80x!
There is a method to their madness and though it may seem trivial to me or you "see the big picture" then realise what it means. Nothing to do with surveillance, all to do with their money being in your pocket.
It would seem that tracking what some Somali payed for a chicken is pretty slim pickings as to value of information. But hey, if you're creating a totalitarian tracking system you have to start somewhere.
Stop buying stuff with cards, use cash. Stop buying stuff. Period. Maybe get yourself a neon flourescent vest, a hardhat and a cherrypicker and pose as a DOT worker and cut those lines to cameras? Let's have a national "Black out a Camera Day" instead of "Devil's Night"? Flash mobs at traffic cameras?
Thoreau called it Civil Disobedience.
Because the second facial recognition camera has a picture of you disabling the first camera?
You gotta go shopping:
http://www.halloweencostumes.com/richard-nixon-mask.html
Sibel Edmonds Unplugged with James Corbett on Still-Hoover’s FBI, NSA, Whistleblowers & Much More -
See more at: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2013/06/25/sibel-edmonds-unplugged-with-...
So, what use is a system like this in Somaliland? Testbed? Or a means to an end, that end being an ultimate dicatorship? In other words, you use the technology to gain rule over everyone, then someone changes the system for their pers aggrandizement & enslavement of the entire world.
I don't think people know why they're doing this now. They're doing it for someone to come.
The thing that occurs to me is that after you have all this information about all these people in Somalia, what use is it? Altogether they have 13.71$; and they aren't going to buy anything. What use is it?
Market research for Fay-go Soda to create a world wide Juggalo network?
Never underestimate the power of Insane Clown Posse.
Test bed?
Snowden could more and more be the catalyst for a new cold war age; some awesome fall out there in the making.
On one detail of this russian detention episode : according to rumour apparently those 4 computers of Snowden are empty of their content having been transferred to those of the Wikileaks girl accompanying him; to avoid them falling into hands of Russian goons.
This is why Wikileaks took him in charge and apparently sterilised his 4 computers, knowing his passport had been invalidated. The Wikileaks cloud protects Snowden, like a professional info gatherer should, tried and experienced in Big Brother tactics from all sides.
Of course both sides will minimise this Wikileaks sterilising and on the contrary pour fire on the "big picture mega spy caper" story to serve their own purposes.
That's what happens if you try and be like Gabriel Princeps with your own small agenda, not understanding the whirpool of corruption swirling around you; not that ES has killed a Habsburg potentate, far from it! He is just trying to right wrong from his own patriotic perspective like Princeps probably thought he was doing for Serbian freedom from Austro Empire.
Just saying, how things get blown up to suit the matrix, and refuel the fires of new Armageddon.
Awesome possibilities about what is contained in those computer files, X-files, can now be the fantasy world of new ideological power play, writing media tunes on how it was exploited by the "enemy".
True.
The 5 cent bullet that killed millions.
Such a small axel on which the wheel of history turns...
Something about the universe, infinity and stupidity...I dunno.
I agreed with you earlier today FP and I agree with you again. I fully appreciate the sentiment that everyone wants to feel but this is not what it seems to be. Russia is on the grid folks so everyone can just come off it. Look at Moscow for fucks sakes. Talk about globalism. Ever watch the ruble/dollar FX rates over the years? And people are claiming that this is not a Bolshoi/Kabuki dance?
Anyone have any new photos?
"Russian detention episode?" What makes you think he is or ever was in Russia? Did anyone not working for the Russian government see him get off the plane? What makes you think he even boarded a plane for Russia from Hong Kong?
He could have boarded a different flight out of Hong Kong or even left the airport via other routes to remain in Hong Kong, off the radar. The Russians could easily be playing along, making a big show of putting FSB people everywhere, simply because they love pissing off the US.
Fully agree about the "awesome possibilities". What is he has audio files of key political figures being recorded secretly? Or foreign dinataries? Just let your mind wander and ponder the things that he could have.
I find it especially interesting that he took the last job to obtain a piece of information that he needed. What was it that was so vital, or damaging? Curious minds want to know, and there are a lot of very curious minds occupying positions of power who want to know very badly. He is turning the apple cart upside down in the intelligence world, endagering all the things they have been working so diligently on over the past decade or more.
Besides actual intelligence, probably also technical details about surveilance systems, secure comms protocols, spying tools, source code, etc.
more here on the wikileaks network behind him stashing that info :
http://www.businessinsider.com/snowden-gave-nsa-files-to-several-people-...
This is an alt information system that is now emerging to fight the Big brother network.
The real fight is between alt-info systems accross borders defending human rights and big brother, statist, totalitarian ones world wide each working for its own national oligarchy.
I am not sure if I can be more obvious to the spies. The message I have been putting out there for years for the spies to read about is the same thing over and over again. Back off, do not fuck with me and there will not be a problem. Basically, our issue here is actually how many different new and creative ways can we tell tptb to fuck off and leave us alone? I do not think these "spies" are very motivated to do anything other than look at pron all day.
edit: Consider what is going on here as an addendum. Clare Daly said what needed to be said regardless of her history.
http://www.boatingaccidentnews.com/clare-daly/
kinda OT:
Continuing his streak of fiercely criticizing President Obama’s foreign policy and civil liberties record, pre-eminent left-wing scholar Noam Chomsky told GRITtv that this administration is “dedicated to increasing terrorism” throughout the world via its own “terrorist” drone strikes in foreign lands.
Speaking with GRITtv host Laura Flanders about the National Security Agency snooping scandal, Chomsky remarked that “the Obama administration is dedicated to increasing terrorism; it’s doing it all over the world.”
He continued: “Obama is running the biggest terrorist operation that exists, maybe in history: the drone assassination campaigns, which are just part of it [...] All of these operations, they are terror operations.” Drone strikes are “terror” because, Chomsky said, the attacks have the effect of “terrorizing” locals.”
For a long while After 9/11, I had a a strange feeling that each time I turned on the radio or TV I would be confronted with a report of some horrible incident. That same feeling has come back. Did I miss something or did it happen and I have only acknowledged it in my sub-conscience.
Boy it would be easy to generate inflation without that pesky paper and coinage floating around. Tracking everything everyone does all the time seems like a bonus.
Whether it's Bitcoin or some other crypto-currency, it'll be game over for the state when the cashless economy becomes fully decentralized and completely anonymous. The state can't tax what it can't find, after all, and we are much closer to that day than almost anyone imagines:
http://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Exposed-Complete-Tomorrows-ebook/product-r...
The oxygen of the state is tax.
Without it, they can not breath.
They need to stay alive so I can have a fireman show up at my house if it is burning or a policeman stop someone from stealing my stuff.
Citizens need to kick into that pot to maintain a basic set of rules. After that it is all waste.
When the bosses of the fireman and policeman are stealing or burning my stuff we have a problem.
You are here.
How do we clean it up, because the fireman and policeman know they are getting screwed too?
Your link is broken, this should work: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1DSXTOS3BQDS9/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00COYR4XQ&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=
Thanks, SHRAGS.
Buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks, or buy the book.
Or do both.
Chump change for a good look into the real New World Order.
Humans are hopelessly inept and lazy, my concern is when the entire thing is automated, not to sound to "SciFi" but software approaching an artificial intelligence could use cameras and other sensors 24/7, then it's a real issue that is improbable to get out from under.
Humans are hopelessly inept and lazy, my concern is when the entire thing is automated, not to sound to "SciFi" but software approaching an artificial intelligence could use cameras and other sensors 24/7, then it's a real issue that is improbable to get out from under.
Look on the bright side.
At least historical figures (as seen from the future) in our time will be more interesting. After all, a full record of their life and interactions is being compiled for the benefit of future students. Since we don't KNOW who is going to be historically significant in the future it makes sense to record all of us.
Now would also be a good time for God to show up and give us a definitive bible/koran/bhagvad gita etc. Now that we don't have to have people trying to translate and copy it, maybe we could all then get a bit of unity in our beliefs.
So your thinking that Obama's real birth certificate, draft card and SS# will show up some day?
That would take an 'Act of God'.
If God was going to show up he would have. I believe we're on our own.
it's wonderful to see that you are so wise and knowledgeable in the ways of "god", and have determined with certainty that she hasn't shown up.
i wish i were as smart as you, but to be perfectly honest, i have no way of knowing such a thing.
Don't feel `too` bad Stacking, to be handicaped, and know it, is a victory in it's self!
i absolutely agree.
i only wish more people were aware of their limitations, instead of pretending to knowledge that they don't have.
I was using 'Neural Networks" software for horse race handicapping in the early 90's, it was primitive and required a lot of manual data entry. I think by now with the software/hardware capabilities they have now they can predict fairly accurately how people will react to a given set of data points.
Check this out.. "Predictive Analytics"
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/08/brain-in-a-dish-fl...
I thought of this when I read your comment.
"Opinions are divided over whom to distrust more: governments or corporations."
There's a difference?
Bastiat re:
'"Opinions are divided over whom to distrust more: governments or corporations." ... There's a difference?' :
+1 googolplex. This needs to be screamed loud.
I thought this was pretty nice. I think the difference is that governments have the guns and thugs and corporations get to keep most of the money, while the government is going broke.
Good point, yes. In fascism governments are muscle for the corporations.
I'd give the Corps a slight higher rating over Govt.
They only want to control your money.
The Govt. wants your life.