12-08-2023, 08:09 AM
Years ago, on a US based gardening forum I met a very interesting character who knew the rarely visited parts of Aotearoa rather well, along with other unusual bits of the Pacific, after a long career establishing what he called listening posts for one of the alphabet agencies. His anecdotal stories of five eyes and intergov security arrangements were intriguing and believable. Much earlier I had had a couple of conversations with a family friend who was a radio tech of the more esoteric kind and some of his stories crossed the same anecdotal material and validated it for me. Stuff about all conversations carried out on connected lines - telecoms, internet, radio - all being monitored with keywords and phrases from wherever being of particular interest.
It taught me early on that someone is always watching, be it the nextdoor neighbours, or the hidden domes and antennae we don't know exist. There is no such thing as privacy. No such thing as a secret once it is shared, and our homes are not our castles. That is the quid pro quo we pay for being part of communities of an intelligent species. The closer the ties the more we are seen. To think it possible to avoid that reality is a delightful naivety reserved for children and dreamers...
It taught me early on that someone is always watching, be it the nextdoor neighbours, or the hidden domes and antennae we don't know exist. There is no such thing as privacy. No such thing as a secret once it is shared, and our homes are not our castles. That is the quid pro quo we pay for being part of communities of an intelligent species. The closer the ties the more we are seen. To think it possible to avoid that reality is a delightful naivety reserved for children and dreamers...