Jim’s Brain Online

Posted by Jim at September 5th, 2004

People have been worried about privacy for a while now and not without reason. The idea that someone has information about you that they can choose to use (or reveal) frightens even people who have nothing to hide.

Though I’m sure it’s been a problem in earlier societies, it seems particularly meaningful in modern times. During the last century humanity became much better at collecting and sharing private information than we’ve ever been before. We’ve got accounts with banks, utility companies, credit card companies, entertainment companies and even the government (state and federal).

All of these organizations know a little bit about us (some of them more than others) and can pass it around if they want.

It used to be that such organizations could only pass such information along if they were willing to fill a truck full of photocopied files. Now all they have to do email a spreadsheet full of the same information.

What’s interesting to my mind is that the problem of people knowing more about you than you want them to is hardly new. During most of human history, we’ve lived in small villages populated by our relatives. Whatever information government databases contain does not compare to the prolonged scrutiny of a lifetime of permanent neighbors.

The difference seems to be in who’s doing the scrutiny and what kind of information they have. Where in the past your neighbors would know your history and your possessions by looking over the contents of your yard or asking people around town, now that same information is contained in the form of numbers. These numbers are kept in databases far from your house, used by people you probably don’t know for purposes you’re not aware of.

In short, the difference seems to be that you don’t have a personal relationship with the people using your information. Another difference is that the people using your private information aren’t thinking of you as a person. They’re thinking of you as a collection of letters and numbers that represent you and your actions (whether you pay your bills on time, for example).

I have to admit to having different opinions about this than the typical internet user appears to. I’ve got a masters degree in sociology and have worked in a market research firm.

In short, I’ve worked in fields where success depends on me being able to use people’s private information. Thus, where many people online appear to prefer that no one knows anything about them, I don’t mind people having certain sorts of data about me.

For example, if Google were collecting information on the sorts of searches I made or the sort of topics in my gmail account, I wouldn’t be particularly bothered depending on the use that they made of the information.

Using it in the aggregate (to understand their users as a group) would not bother me at all. A company should be able to understand who’s using their services. That way they can attempt to create services that their customers actually want.

Even if they used information about me to target me personally for certain advertisements, I wouldn’t be bothered if they advertised things I actually wanted. For example, I know that I’ve given my marital status to Yahoo (married with 2 kids…), but nonetheless I’m still getting ads for singles matchmaking services when I use Yahoo. This irritates me.

I wouldn’t be particularly bothered if I were getting ads for web hosting companies or bookstores, music stores or movie theaters.

At the same time, it would bother me if information about me were being gathered and then sold to the government for the purpose of keeping track of what I’m up to. Even there, I’d be okay with it for certain limited purposes (determining my security clearance perhaps?).

As such, I can’t really count myself a member of the tinfoil hat brigade. Even so, the issue of privacy is important and I’m glad that someone’s paranoid about it. I just hope I believe them if they encounter a real problem.

UPDATE: For what it’s worth, this post was partially prompted by Ed’s post on a related topic.

Posted by Jim at September 3rd, 2004

I’m a bit of a sucker for contemporary fantasy that simultaneously has an epic sweep while connecting the massive universe affecting events to the main character’s day-to-day humdrum life.

Knowing this, I suspect I should be some sort of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanatic. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have cable so I missed it all. Fortunately for me, I do have internet access and thus haven’t missed Demonology 101.

Demonlogy 101 is about Raven, a high school student who also happens to be a demon. She’s a pretty decent person despite that.

It starts around a year after Network (an organization that fights demons’ minions in this world) has been destroyed. Raven is entering high school for the first time after having been home schooled at Network for most of her life.

At the same time, her guardian, Gabriel, is learning about what’s happened to some friends of his from Network.

Those are the two main strands from which the whole story flows–school and the shadowy supernatural events that only the main characters in the story are aware of.

The danger in this sort of story is that you can lose track of the personal and only be left with the epic. Demonology 101 manages not to do that, giving a decent amount of time to Raven’s relationship to her friends and to her guardian–not to mention a bit of the feel of high school.

Of course with demons being involved some sort of epic sweep is inevitable. You’ve got Heaven, Hell and the relationship between their representatives, the possibility of ending the universe, and a bit of the feel of Hellblazer (unintentional, I think).

I loved Hellblazer in college. Haven’t picked it up in a few years though.

Back to Demonology 101… As with many one person writer/artist authors, the art starts out worse than it eventually becomes. In this case, it starts out pretty good due to the fact that she re-drew the first chapter. In the second chapter it gets worse, then continually improves till the end.

That’s the other thing I should mention. There is an end.

I like endings. I don’t enjoy it when I feel like the story is going to go on forever just like it is now. Demonology 101 wraps up storylines, has a climax and moves merrily on to the finish. At 700 comic sized pages, it’s not exactly short, but it is an ending.

I started reading it around 5pm last Sunday and finished (almost without stopping) around 1:30am.

I’m not sure if being tired the next day was quite worth it, but I did enjoy the story.

Posted by Jim at September 1st, 2004

Kristen and I took the kids out to eat last night. As we were driving, I heard a trumpet.

I used to play trumpet. I still would except that I don’t really have time. If I had time, I’d probably use it to work on my novel or take up electric bass again. Only after I had time for those things would my interest wander back to the trumpet.

Nonetheless, I know the sound of practice, particularly competent but inexpert practice. That’s more or less my level of skill.

So anyway, we were passing some houses and I was assuming that the person had to be playing with a window open. Except… It just seemed too loud for that. Not outrageously loud, but it just wasn’t fading. Noise does that when you’re moving away from the source.

This would have remained an odd but inconsequential mystery except for one thing. As we were driving, Kristen turned to me and said, “Jim, he’s playing the trumpet.”

She was right. The guy driving the car that was passing me in the right lane was also playing the trumpet.

I’m not kidding.