Technocreep (33 page)

Conspire with Like-Minded Folks and Participate in the ­Societal Dialogue.

It may seem odd to conclude with a call to conspiracy. However, I hope you now appreciate that you are already the target of many technology-fueled conspiracies, so it seems only right that you should have the tools to fight back.

Hang with some hackers.

My own introduction to the techno-conspiratorial mindset came decades ago, as I attended some of the New York City meetings of a group called 2600. This club took its name from the not-so-secret “operator mode” frequency (2600 Hz) that could unlock some of the wonders of the phone system. Their meetings were held at a midtown Manhattan office tower that had a large bank of public phones. Periodically during these informal gatherings, small groups would wander over to those pay phones to try out some trick they had just learned. I was pleased to see that NYC2600 is still meeting in roughly the same neighborhood, and has even managed to strike an ironic truce with Citigroup Center's building security folks, who seem to let them convene in peace in the building's food court to discuss ways to exploit flaws in security.
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Face-to-face hacker meetings may seem quaint in an age when ideas can be passed around the world in a heartbeat through the Internet. Still, they provide that extra creative spark. I highly recommend the DEF CON and Black Hat conferences as places to really understand those “wheels within wheels” that make technology so fascinating. I have had the privilege to speak at both events and enjoy them immensely.
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I always learn something. A lot in fact.

As a guide to groups that are doing deep thinking about technology issues, at least in North America, you could certainly start with the ones who show up at the DEF CON conference each year.
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One of the best things at DEF CON 2012 was that the exhibit floor organizers managed to intersperse the recruiting tables of government agencies (the NSA, CIA, FBI) in between privacy watchdog groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union. Just sitting next to somebody different for four days undoubtedly did everyone a lot of good all around. Sadly, the government agencies were told they were not welcome (at least in their official suits) at the DEF CON 2013 conference, so this opportunity for human-to-human interaction was lost.

Trade consumer information and reviews.

Consumer conspiring is not limited to high tech issues, though the tools to accomplish it are often high tech. Coupon sharing sites and “where to find the best price for gasoline” webpages have popped up. Online travel bidding sites like Priceline have their own secret pricing formulas, so sites like
biddingfortravel.com
have arisen. On that one, you can find out things you are not really supposed to know, like which hotels in a city fall into which star categories. ­Customers also share winning and losing bid information, strategies, and even the secrets of the “free re-bids.” It levels the playing field between consumer and company, though of course it creates a new divide between customers who have the insider information and those who don't.

While they can be the victim of bogus entries, there are now excellent review sites for travel, electronic products, cars, and almost anything almost anything you might want to investigate. Some even push the envelope a bit, such as when
Flyertalk.com
notifies its members about those ultra-cheap “mistake airfares” that airlines occasionally post and sometimes even honor for public relations reasons.

These techniques might not help you hide your identity or protect your personal information. But they are indicative of a mindset that says the consumer has the right to turn the tables on companies by using their own technological innovations.

Accept the responsibility to stay informed, speak out, and vote on ­Technocreepiness.

With these tools and knowledge comes a responsibility to participate in the societal discussion of how much creepy technology we are willing to tolerate, for exactly which benefits.

Different societies will undoubtedly make different choices. In Estonia, for example, a single, mandatory, government-issued identity card is used to vote, pay taxes, shop, get medical care, and even ride public transit. Privacy advocates in the United States have staunchly opposed such a national ID card, fearing it could be misused to create a police state.

The revelations of Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, and others have revealed a previously hidden and creepy governmental addiction to surveillance and information hoarding.

The front pages of many science, technology, and medical ­journals have hints that creepier things are coming our way, at an increasing pace.

The maturing of the “digital natives,” who have always known and accepted 24/7 connectivity, will alter our social discourse on what is creepy and what is cool.

One thing is certain. The hairs on the back of our collective neck are going to be working overtime for the foreseeable future.

You have been warned.

I am extremely grateful to my family, friends, and colleagues who have supported me in the adventure of researching and writing this book.

My loving wife, Keri, and my delightful son, Jordan, have been there for me every single day with advice, energy, encouragement, references, criticism, and great ideas. Henry Mullish of New York University awakened my interest in technology way back in the 1960s. By allowing a teenage nerd to assist him in preparing some of his books, he also inspired a great love of the craft of writing.

My students and colleagues at the University of Calgary, and from 25 years of the Shad Valley Program, have all played a role in shaping the ideas behind this book. I'd especially like to thank Robert D. Acker, Paul Dickinson, Cullen Jennings, Zak Karbalai, Kingson Lim, Brian Lynch, Kathy Macdonald, David Moloney, Nate Dekens, Hervé St. Louis, and the robot at Google Alerts for sending me such amazing and creepy ideas and stories on a regular basis. They bring me great examples of technocreepiness, often with the same proud look the cat has when he carries in a half-eaten mouse.

Dr. Duncan Chappell and CBC Producer Dave Redel played a seminal role in this project when we worked and played together in the 1980s creating
Crimes of the Future
for CBC IDEAS. Drs. Simone Fischer-Hübner and Penny Duquenoy have kindly involved me in the activities of the European privacy community through the FIDIS project. Countless stimulating presenters at the DEF CON, Black Hat, 2600, and Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conferences have given me terrific ideas, which are gratefully acknowledged. Dr. John Demartini, an inspired thinker about human behavior, gave me a framework that kept me from creeping myself out while researching this material.

I owe special thanks to John Oakes of OR Books for instantly believing in this project and for shepherding me through the journey of being a first-time book author. Staff members Justin Humphries, Courtney Andujar, Natasha Lewis, and Emily Freyer have also contributed greatly to this book.

Finally, I'd like to thank all my colleagues in the media. They asked many of the pesky, probing questions that led to this book. Even when they wanted me in the TV studio at 4 AM for a live interview, their provocation was exactly what I needed to stay sharp in this constantly changing field.

Albrecht, Katherine, McIntyre, Liz.
Spychips: How Major ­Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Purchase and Watch Your Every Move.
Nashville, TN: Nelson Current, 2005.

Angwin, Julia.
Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance.
New York: Times Books, 2014.

Assange, Julian,
et al. Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet
. New York: OR Books, 2012.

Benjamin, Medea.
Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control
. New York: OR Books, 2012

Cavoukian, Ann, Tapscott, Don.
Who Knows: Safeguarding Your Privacy in a Networked World.
New York: McGraw Hill, 1997.

Davies, Kevin.
The $1,000 Genome: The Revolution in DNA Sequencing and the New Era of Personalized Medicine
. New York: Free Press, 2010.

Greenwald, Glenn.
No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State.
New York: Metropolitan Books, 2014.

Greenberg, Andy.
This Machine Kills Secrets: How WikiLeakers, Cypherpunks, and Hacktivists Aim to Free the World's Information.
New York: Penguin Group, 2012.

Kurzweil, Raymond.
The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
. New York: Viking Penguin, 2005.

Nissenbaum, Helen.
Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2010.

Schneier, Bruce.
Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World
. New York: Copernicus, 2003.

Spar, Debora.
The Baby Business: How Money, Science and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception
. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.

Turkle, Sherry.
Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.
New York: Basic Books, 2011.

Whitaker, Reg.
The End of Privacy: How Total Surveillance is Becoming a Reality.
New York: The New Press, 1999.

All online resources accessed and verified in early 2014, but subject to change and deletion.

1.
Blackwell, Tom. “Do-it-yourself brain stimulation has scientists ­worried as healthy people try to make their minds work better,”
National Post
, June 12, 2013, accessed at
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/06/12/transcranial-direct-current-stimulation-tdcs-technology/

2.
Clark, Liat. “Facebook is using AI to analyze the emotions behind your posts,”
wired.co.uk
, September 23, 2013, accessed at
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-09/23/facebook-deep-learning

3.
Gannes, Liz. “Passwords on Your Skin and in Your Stomach: Inside Google's Wild Motorola Research Projects (Video),”
All Things D
, June 3, 2013, accessed at
http://allthingsd.com/20130603/passwords-on-your-skin-and-in-your-stomach-inside-googles-wild-motorola-research-projects-video/

4.
Eadicicco, Lisa. “Google Glass Will Track Your Gaze, Patent Hints,”
Laptop
, August 14, 2013, accessed at
http://blog.laptopmag.com/google-glass-patent
, and describing U.S. Patent 8,510,166, issued August 13, 2013 and assigned to Google, Inc

5.
BBC. “Tesco petrol stations use face-scan tech to target ads,” November 4, 2013, accessed at
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-24803378

6.
Hood, Leroy. Personal communication, Chicago, IL, February 14, 2014.

7.
Carr, David. “Giving Viewers What They Want,”
New York Times
, February 24, 2013, accessed at
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/business/media/for-house-of-cards-using-big-data-to-guarantee-its-popularity.html

8.
Gymrek, Melissa,
et al.
“Identifying Personal Genomes by Surname Inference,”
Science,
January 18, 2013, 339(6117) p. 321-324, accessed at
www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6117/321.abstract
.

9.
Dobbs, Sarah. “50 Genuinely Creepy Horror Movies,” Den of Geek, February 22, 2014, accessed at
http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/horror-movies/22381/50-genuinely-creepy-horror-movies

10.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Askreddit/comments/1d2v7i/parents_of_reddit_what_is_the_creepiest_thing/

11.
Gravitz, Lauren. “When Your Diet Needs a Band-Aid,”
MIT Technology Review
, May 1, 2009, accessed at
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/413323/when-your-diet-needs-a-band-aid/

12.
Seltzer, Leslie J.,
et al.
“Social vocalizations can release oxytocin in humans,” September 7, 2010,
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Biological Sciences
, 277(1694) pp. 2661-2666.

13.
Wallace, Richard S. “From Eliza to A.L.I.C.E.,” accessed at
www.alicebot.org/articles/wallace/eliza.html

14.
Foner, Leonard, N. In Dautenhahn, Kirstin, ed.,
Human Cognition and Social Agent Technology
. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing, 2000, p. 326.

15.
Forums of Loathing. Accessed at
forums.kingdomofloathing.com/vb/showthread.php?t=97928.J

16.
This demonstrates how Hank's knowledge base was populated with information to help the Coca-Cola company deal with common rumors, such as being owned by the Mormon Church. See
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/mormon.asp
. It also illustrates the limits of Hank's machine intelligence since he was asked about his own theological beliefs but was triggered by the word “Mormon” to reply about stock ownership

17.
http://coca-cola-corporate.com.yeslab.org/contactus
/

18.
University of Reno. “Interactive Catholic Confessional,”

19.
Wade, Peter. “For Yom Kippur, Synagogue Invites Congregation to Tweet Their Sins,”
Fast Company
, September 13, 2013, accessed at
http://www.fastcompany.com/3017468/fast-feed/for-yom-kippur-synagogue-invites-congregation-to-tweet-their-sins

20.
Warren, Tom. “This is Cortana, Microsoft's answer to Siri,”
The Verge
, March 3, 2014, accessed at
http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/3/5465264/microsoft-cortana-windows-phone-screenshots