Peripheral Peripheries

When I started this blog, I promised myself I'd never discuss conspiracy theories. Or at least not take them seriously. Unless you have proof that someone is behaving covertly or hiding important information from others, then you're gossiping and spreading more mistruths or urban legends.

This blog entry will point out some funny theories but I'm sure any of you out there who are sure you're being watched and followed will probably not find them funny.

I am interested in new technology mainly because I grew up with friends who were technologically-minded. I do not design new technology devices myself (although I've been known to tear apart new gear before getting any good use of out them).

I've helped friends and colleagues with their designs, getting many to market even though I know by doing so I contribute to the destruction of "pristine" parts of Earth I haven't seen and will never see. Such is the price for progress: no matter how environmentally responsible we think we can be, we must gather raw materials from somewhere, process them and put them together to create new gadgets, resulting in environmentally unfriendly open pit mines, factories and distribution networks.

Some of the technology that interests me includes wireless communication devices using UWB or RFID. A recent article, "Chips in official IDs raise privacy fears," points to issues associated with open wireless technology, easily feeding into the future that conspiracy theorists go on and on about.

Reminds me of the early days of analog cell phones. My father in-law had a radio scanner that was tuned to emergency services channels so he could know if his two-way radio business was going to be needed. If you had a list of the right frequencies, you could accidentally tune the scanner to pick up one half of analog cell phone conversations (since it was illegal to intentionally listen to cell phone conversations). We'd sit at the kitchen table in the evenings and sometimes catch salesmen on cell phones explaining how to write off one-night stands on expense reports or hear a wife/husband plead with the other partner to come home after [drinking, having an affair, having a big fight, etc.].

Now, if those people knew they were being listened to, would they have been as "open" in their conversation? Probably not. They may have discussed the same subject but in couched terms. Yet, if you believe what you hear in the news, every citizen's activities are known through phone bugging/wiretapping, cell phone recording, email/Internet logging, list of places traveled (tracked via GPS chips in cell phones, computers and cars), products purchased via credit card, and old-fashioned physical/video surveillance. Do we code our conversations or watch our tracks on a daily basis? Probably not.

Last night, I watched the movie, "A Scanner Darkly." Philip K. Dick wrote the book on which the movie's based. In a special feature, a French interview with Phil at a scifi convention revealed his belief that he was a specific covert target of the U.S. government after his affiliation with certain people in Berkeley in the 1960s, including his rooming with Timothy Leary at some point. He said that he had seen his CIA and FBI profiles which still didn't prove to him who had been going through his mail or breaking into his apartment and taking/photographing things. Phil's friends died in part due to their drug use which may have also led to their's (and his) paranoia, both real and imagined, about being watched.

Are you being watched? Many, if not most or all people, profess a strong belief they are, either by natural or supernatural forces. They call it guardian angels, God, Shiva, ancestors, Devil, government, Big Brother, the boss, the neighbors, peers, the spouse, siblings, the priest/Pope, the parents, the school and so on.

You are being watched all the time (you watch yourself, even if you believe no one else watches you). Do you act any differently because you're being watched? Sure you do. You react to others all the time - it's called socializing. ;)

Some people fear they're being watched which will lead to someone else responding negatively to their behavior (resulting in false arrest or imprisonment) or stealing their identity.

Assume you're being watched. Act like someone is following you around. Pretend you're famous and hounded by paparazzi or infamous and tracked by government spies. If you're going to be paranoid, have fun and invite others in on the conspiracy.

I turned on TV the other day while eating lunch and caught part of a documentary on a group of people dedicated to a roleplaying game called Darkon, an imaginary world of medieval fiefdoms/kingdoms, which these people would recreate on weekends. They held skirmishes, battles, negotiations and other aspects of what they perceived would take place if Darkon was real.

Why not take this concept and create your own similar fantasy roleplaying game, using the real world as a place where people can track each other? There's no need to be scared of the future. Laws are written and rewritten all the time. You're bound to break a law that you don't know about. Your activities, all or in part, are being tracked all the time so some entity is targeting your behavior for its gain.

Think of real life as a game of being watched and watching others. Suddenly, you'll find yourself involved in socializing with others, figuring out they're watching you and being watched. You might even join an official group of people who like being watched by supernatural forces. Billions of people participate in religious rituals just for that purpose.

Scary but true.