Back to pen and ink

The longer this story runs about intercepted phone calls, emails, web surfing activity etc. the more aware we become that nothing is sacred anymore. New claims have arisen about the NSA tapping Google and Yahoo. However, we know that Google and Yahoo have provided data for the NSA for years and in any case they both collect information about us for their own use as does Facebook. The Daily Mail even claims that the conclave of cardinals that elected the new Pope was monitored – how absurd!

The plain truth is that, since 9/11 and possibly even before, we are being spied upon by just about everyone and it isn’t just our phone calls. The Americans are probably the most guilty of this espionage but that does not rule out other countries as well. It is hard to imagine that Russia and China are innocent, in fact they are probably more guilty of this kind of activity than any other country. The only thing that separates them from America is that nobody would dare blow the whistle on what they do. In other words, it is unlikely that there is the equivalent of Edward Snowden working in Russia or China.

It seems to me there is only one way to avoid all this spying and that is to avoid any form of communication that could possible be intercepted without our knowing. That means, no phone calls, no emails, no shopping online and definitely avoid using Facebook. In fact, disconnect your computer from the Internet altogether, throw away your mobile phone and start writing letters again. Of course we would then have to hope that they don’t find a way to examine the contents of envelopes without revealing it has been done. Perhaps my suggestion of using pigeons has some merit.

Oh and whilst we are at it, banks cannot be trusted not to reveal our transactions. The SWIFT system has already been compromised so that is a no no. Best to draw all our money out, keep it under the bed and pay only in cash for anything we buy.

And what about the television? Is it possible that the satellite services are also  monitoring the programmes we watch? Of course they are, for years they have produced data about which programmes are most popular. Ah well, the television has to go as well.

Of course, this is all fantasy. Nobody in their right mind is going to turn back the clock and return to an age without all this technology. In the end we will probably have to accept that nothing we do can be considered private anymore.

They say that only the guilty have something to hide. Perhaps that is true but then don’t we all have secrets of some sort that we’d rather not share? Friends – be aware and be safe and stop reading this blog – only kidding of course!