Privacy

I’ve been kinda-sorta following developments in wind and solar energy, but not very diligently; I don’t expect to have a need for that kind of tech anytime soon. A Reuters article from yesterday sure caught my attention, though: Pioneers show Americans how to live “off-grid” claims that prices have dropped enough that both technologies are increasingly feasible for home use. And of course, the increasing costs of energy have upped the appeal. An excerpt from the article:

[Author Nick] Rosen estimates that there are as many as 350,000 U.S. households meet their own energy needs, and growing at 30 percent a year.

"As people are losing their homes, or finding the rent or mortgage too much to pay, they are choosing the off-grid alternative because it is so much cheaper," Rosen said

While installation costs for the solar panels, wind turbines, converters and batteries needed to power up an off-grid home were prohibitively expensive a few years back, improved technology and ramped up production has driven down costs significantly.

Popular solar-powered systems are made by Sharp Corp, Kyocera Corp and silicon Valley-based Nanosolar, among others, and according to the website Low Impact Living (click on www.lowimpactliving.com/), installation costs have fallen by more than 80 percent over 20 years.

"The cost is falling all the time as there is more and more manufacturing plant coming onstream. In fact, there may even be a glut in solar panels next year which would be very good news for the consumers," said Rosen. ....

Power utilities such as Arizona Public Service, the principal subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital Corp, is among utilities in several U.S. states that offer subsidies to consumers planning to meet their own power needs, so as to ease demand for a growing on-grid customer base.

"Not only is it getting cheaper to generate non-grid electricity, but it's getting cheap and comfortable to set up your off-grid home, and there are even bonuses from your local utility company for doing so," Rosen said. ....

The cost of building such a home is little different from that of building any other home, and with a range of energy sipping appliances such as refrigerators, hi-fis and even hairdryers now available, the forced austerity associated with off-grid living is also changing.

"You can have hot showers and a cold beer," said [off-grid developer Lonnie] Gamble. "You have no water bill, no sewer bill, no power bill and you can harvest something fresh from the greenhouse ... why would you ever do anything else?"

Two things stick out from the article—only one of which is in the bit quoted. If one is completely off the grid, why would one be in contact with “your local utility company”? Seems to me the privacy gained from them not coming on to the property, reading meters and the like, would itself be worth going off-grid. Second, “trend analyst” author Rosen is quoted as saying that he doesn’t think as many as half of all American homes will ever be off-grid, which strikes me as an amazingly short-sided attitude, particularly for one in the trend analysis biz. If that stupid OPEC lawsuit legislation continues, and if the greenies keep the USSA’s reserves out of bounds, the resulting price pinch could be enough to tip a lot more people that way. And it is possible that the grid could fail or be taken out for a large part of the country, and in some way that would require routing around that in order to regain some of the niceties of modernity. Doesn’t take much imagination to come up with such scenarios at all.

Anyway, it’s good to see such a major leg in the self-sufficiency puzzle getting more interest.

It’s come to this at last. Governments around the world are calling for national ID (NID) cards, or for increasing the security measures on existing cards. The justification, of course, is the current war on terrorism. Ask “Cui bono?” (Who benefits?) of 9-11 and the answer looks increasingly like “Authoritarians everywhere.”

And I do mean everywhere. NID hype is playing loudest in the United States and Britain, yet other countries are working hard to join the goose-stepping. For example, Malaysia has recently instituted compulsory NIDs for citizens age twelve and up. The cards have computer chips which store copies of the subject’s fingerprints. Other places are considering similar moves.

NIDs—especially “smart cards” that can carry a great deal of encoded information—are viewed as the solution to many “problems” the Thought Police have. They can be used to: verify identity via biometric information; reveal banking, health, voting, and similar records; and track travel and purchases, for starters. Because of the presence of biometric information—supposedly unique body information, such as a fingerprint or retinal scan—these cards are touted as strong security against would-be terrorists. According to various polls, Americans are increasingly willing to accept a NID, primarily because they think that it will increase security.

Sovereign individuals ought to consider this NID movement as the most dangerous threat to liberty on the planet. (The enumeration-and-tracking fervor isn’t limited to the national scale; UN officials have heard a proposal for a global unique identifying number for each person in the world.) The more people can be tracked, monitored, and checked, the easier they are to control. The easier they are to control, the less free they are.

Particularly insidious are the so-called “voluntary IDs”. While originally used for apparently benign purposes (such as getting social welfare benefits in some Scandinavian countries), it’s usually an easy matter to expand their use, and the information required of the subjects. It’s also easy to take something that’s widely accepted on a voluntary basis and quietly make it mandatory. A clear case of function creep is the American Social Security Number; old cards stated that the number “is not to be used for identification purposes”. (The law says these ID uses are illegal too, not that the Department of Justice cares.) Anyone who’s tried to get a driver's license, passport, or even see a doctor without giving the number knows how antiquated that notion is. Many businesses won’t do business with someone who doesn’t give a number.

The databases collected by various interests are often sold, in whole or part (in America, this can include birth, marital, and driving records, banking information, medical records, credit card usage, and buying habits at stores with “discount” cards, such as supermarkets). If all these databases—plus whatever the Thought Police require on the card—use the NID number, it won’t take much to build a formidable dossier on anyone, without that individual’s knowledge or consent. The potential for misuse by petty bureaucrats becomes even greater, particularly against those who are viewed as unfriendly to their interests. And what might law enforcement officers with a license to destroy lives in pursuit of “state security” do? In the US, true patriots—and just about anyone who questions the war and any action relating to it—have already been given notice that they’re potential Thought Police targets.

Given the dire consequences, both of submitting to a NID and of refusing to be numbered, the choice to be made isn’t an easy one. Nor should it be made lightly. Let’s consider the pros and cons of each choice. First, the negatives:
1. If you submit to the NID, you are in the system, in the database, and along for the ride wherever the Thought Police and busybody bureaucrats decide to take you. Your every non-cash purchase may be trackable, along with all bank transactions. Your travel will certainly be monitored, and you could be required to register with the local Gestapo every time you move (it happens in many countries, and has been suggested in the US). Your medical records could be opened up to potential employers as well as LEOs who check your papers. Anyone who sees your number could access all kinds of sensitive information about you, without your knowledge or consent. It’s possible that inept busybodies—or malicious Thought Police types—could wipe you out of existence, or otherwise wreak havoc with your records, and therefore your life. If certain demographic information were included, you could be discriminated against. Much of your life will be open to The State, and your business will be conducted at their pleasure, not your need or desire. Your pro-freedom friends may call you a sellout, and you yourself may begin to question your adherence to your principles.

2. If you forego the NID, you’ll be outside the system, and depending on how diligently the state tracks and punishes those outside, your life may be better or worse than those inside. Already, getting meaningful employment without papers is all but impossible in many places, including the US. You may be severely limited in any aspect of living a normal life: no dealing with checks, credit cards, or anything but cash; no home mortgage or rental agreement; no driving; no flying; no medical care; and no respect from the mainstream community for holding fast to your principles. Indeed, if function creep proceeds so that a NID is required for every activity or transaction, you’ll not be able to set foot inside “civilization”. That may seem like a benefit, rather than a negative; but being outside isn’t always easy. While you are outside, many of your choices and opportunities are constrained by the very fact that you are free. You may become depressed if you choose to focus on this aspect of the situation. You may become a pariah, or worse, in your family or community. You yourself may begin to question the wisdom of your choice, as its challenges wear you down. You can be targeted by the state for “crimes” real or imagined. You can be separated from those you love. You can be killed.

Now, the positives:
1. Being in the system makes you much more able to transact business. This includes pursuing other pro-freedom strategies. Having papers gives you some degree of protection, so you can conduct whatever smash-the-state business you wish with fewer concerns about being an immediate target. Using the system against itself is a monkey-wrenching choice available mainly to those within the system; it’s an activity that can bring success and amusement. While in the system, you can help those who remain outside in a variety of ways. You can help them to do things they otherwise couldn’t. You can employ them, barter with them, support the grey market they rely on, or be a stop on the freedom underground railroad. With a little creativity and effort, many more possibilities offer themselves. Some offer little risk, others more. They all help you be true to your principles while appearing to go along.

2. Not being a cog in the immense state machine means that you do not support it in any way. The immense freedom that one feels as a result is amazing. The feeling of living in accordance with one’s principles is liberating, exhilarating. Knowing that you’re following the path that’s best for human nature can make many of the challenges of being outside worth bearing. You may become an inspiration to others, and may encourage others to follow the refusenik course. This will further weaken the state, helping us all to be freer of its poisonous influences. (If word of your non-cooperation gets around, you certainly will be an inspiration to others. It’s a difficult choice to make, but one very worthwhile if you’re committed to it and enter it realistically.)

I know from personal experience how lonely such a crusade can seem, particularly if you live in a statist haven and it seems you’re the only one who values freedom. I also know from personal experience that you aren’t alone. Part of the reason the thugs can institute wholesale destruction of liberty is the fear they instill. That fear is based on their willingness to back up their threats with force. Ruby Ridge, Michael New, Shirley Allen, Peter McWilliams, Elián González, Waco ... these are just a few examples.

Gandhi: the original refusenik?

I used the term refusenik earlier. If you aren’t familiar with it, refuseniks were the Soviet Jews who wanted to leave the USSR, but who were repeatedly denied permission. Because they wanted to leave, they were hassled in numerous ways, often for years. But they refused to go along with the Soviet system, enduring its worst until they died or were permitted to leave. They refused to cooperate.

If you think about it, Gandhi was perhaps the first well known refusenik. In both South Africa and India, he refused to cooperate with the tyranny of each state over its own citizens. His methods involved fighting back, to be sure, but in ways that were always calculated to show his opponent at its worst. (The movie Gandhi, starring Ben Kingsley, is an excellent introduction to the subject.) He did not initiate force, nor did he ever advocate the initiation of force by Indians. His path was that of non-cooperation.

In South Africa, where all “colored” individuals were required to carry identity papers and live as second-class citizens, Gandhi refused to carry the paper, and organized many Indians living there to join in. In India, he spoke out against British imperialism and through non-cooperation, brought about the end of British rule. One example from the movie is particularly compelling: salt manufacture and sale were heavily regulated, such that the British had a lock on both. In defiance of the law, Gandhi went to the sea and made salt. The British chose to ignore this action, but later decided to take action when hundreds of Indians followed Gandhi’s lead. In one scene, authorities loyal to Britain and Gandhi’s followers face off outside a salt-making company. The authorities beat off the Indians as they approach its gates. The Indians peacefully accept the blows, and keep coming. Some of the wounded rejoin the march, only to be beaten again. That demonstration encapsulated the essence of tyranny, and is widely regarded as the beginning of the end of British rule in India.

A difference in protests between the situations in India and the Soviet Union is that of organization. Gandhi became a symbol“and a lightning rod”for his cause. Millions of Indians came to join Gandhi’s cause, making their strength obvious. There is no comparable figure for the Soviet Jews who became the refuseniks. They acted individually, or in small groups. However, the results are essentially the same. With the world watching peaceable individuals who just wanted to be left alone to live their lives, and the tyrannical responses of the governments to them, tyranny backed off.

Making your choice

Let’s face it: the stakes are high. No matter how benign the stated purpose, no matter how trivial the information required by your local flavor of Thought Police, any NID is a privacy and security threat. With the ease of creating and altering computer records today, it would be a relatively simple matter for function creep to make that innocuous number the bane of your existence. It’s a shorter slide than any of us would like to consider from a NID to a Soviet or Nazi-style society. Your current situation may be tolerable, but how certain can you be that it will last? Do you really want the opposition forces who’ve just come to power to know you voted against them? Do you want your local sheriff to know how many and what kinds of guns you own? Do you think it’s anyone’s business what kinds of videos you like to watch?

Not cooperating will be uncomfortable, inconvenient, and ultimately, dangerous for many. But remember: sixty years ago, European Jews went along with Nazi requirements for papers. Then they went along with the yellow Star of David armbands. Then they went along with being herded into Jewish sectors. Then they went to the concentration camps—and into the gas chambers.

Life is full of difficult choices, and this time is no exception. But we do have a choice. In or out. Private protestor or active refusenik. I encourage everyone who values freedom to find some way of not cooperating with whatever identification or numbering scheme your local Thought Police have, or are working on. As Gandhi, the Soviet refuseniks, and others have showed, non-cooperation works.

How do I despise the USSA’s socialist health care system? Let me count the ways!

That’s what CLS posted in the wee hours this morning, but without a link to back up the claim. A Wall Street Journal article has the details (emphasis mine):

The account of Client-9's [Spitzer] appointment is part of a larger case that broke last week when federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged four people with organizing and managing an international prostitution ring, known as the Emperors Club VIP.

According to the complaint and the sworn statement, the Emperors Club arranged connections between wealthy male clients and more than 50 prostitutes in locations from New York and Washington to Paris and London. The club's Web site showed photographs of prostitutes' bodies, with their heads hidden, and ranked the women with a "diamond" system. Fees varied by rank, from $1,000 an hour to more than $5,500 an hour.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's inquiry began in October 2007, when it was triggered at least in part by a bank that filed "suspicious activity" reports on the New York governor with the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, according to a federal law-enforcement official and a lawyer involved in the matter. Suspicious activity reports are filed with the Internal Revenue Service when banks detect something unusual either through their tellers or software, including transfers of large amounts of cash, unknown counterparties, or the use of known tax havens and money-laundering centers.

The bank was concerned that Mr. Spitzer might have been engaged in "structuring," a money-laundering technique in which transactions are kept beneath $10,000 to avoid federal reporting rules, the official said. There has been a massive federal crackdown on money laundering in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and banks have been extremely diligent in filing such reports. Those reports often include details of transactions done by innocent people.

The suspicious transactions by Mr. Spitzer are a major part of the investigation, the federal official said, confirming a report by ABC News. It isn't clear if federal investigators were engaged in a crackdown on the prostitution ring when Mr. Spitzer entered their sights as an alleged client of the ring, or whether Mr. Spitzer's transactions helped trigger a probe of the prostitution operation.

So, as we were discussing previously, one can forget financial privacy from institutions. Cash is quieter; and with the economic turmoil cranking up, it may not be a bad idea for risk avoidance to keep a moderate stash on hand anyway.

I have used Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) for a very long time now. One thing I particularly liked about it is that the encryption not only scrambled the content of email, it obscured its length. I can recall receiving a long, encrypted message, and upon decrypting, a very short message was revealed. Similarly, long unencrypted messages were not noticeably, nor predictably longer than short ones when encrypted.

But that has changed; nowadays it’s fairly easy to gauge the length of an email by its encrypted length. At least, it is for me; I’m currently using KGpg, with my PGP keys that were generated a couple of years ago (don’t recall what version of PGP that was). What changed in encryption tech to cause this loss of file-length obscuring?

There’s been a lot of commentary over the USSA’s fall into blackness in the 2007 International Privacy Ranking, and rightly so. But when I look at their map, I see something far worse.

It’s to be expected from the govgoons and burricrats, of course—it is part and parcel of their desire to track, and to be efficacious in tracking, individuals throughout all their activities, across all their days. But I have seen the cry echoed across one too many a private place. “You should have to use your real name!” squawk the parroting, semi-non-thinking plebes. Well, pray tell me this first: what is a real name—and what is real about a name?

I’m not sure that that’s the most accurate way to describe Prosper—although the home page’s title says “people to people lending” so I guess I’m not too far off. What an intriguing idea ...

We have been “had” by the increasing power of the state, as well as much of the mainstream media’s complacency in reporting on it.

If you want to know why I put part of the verb in quotation marks, please see Shaun Saunders’ latest story, posted here with his kind permission. Very timely stuff, and as usual, an excellent tale.

[Sunni notes: Shaun sent me this story sometime in September or October 2007. I really liked it, but being busy and lazy and having email problems all contributed to it being pushed out of my mind for a while. Ultimately, I think that worked all for the best; the recent spate of taserings and taser-caused deaths, along with the state-ordered forced vaccination of children in Prince George’s County, Maryland—a barbarous act that only the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons has protested thus far— make its publication now (11/21/07) an especially pointed reminder that dystopian fiction is increasingly becoming reality.]



In the cavernous underground parking area of the sprawling Fabcola Home Shopping Centre, a police cruiser flashed its lights, blipped its siren and cut across an old white sedan, forcing it to pull over near a trolley rank.

The police officer driving the cruiser was six hours into what had been an uneventful shift. Two runaway trolleys were hardly worth reporting, but this was different. With fifteen years on the force, the officer could smell trouble, and the behaviour of the driver he’d just pulled over was definitely erratic.

He radioed in the car’s plates, advised Central that he might have a situation on his hands, and hoisted himself out of the cruiser. Immediately he felt his knees protest, and rued that at thirty-five, he was just too old for these sorts of shenanigans.

“Good afternoon Sir,” the officer said as he approached the sedan, breathing heavily. “Would you mind explaining what you’re doing here this afternoon? I’ve been watching you navigating aimlessly around the lot for over a quarter of an hour.”

Surprised, the nondescript looking driver answered, “Oh, I’ve been trying to find a parking space.”

Warning bells tingled. Straightening his shoulders, the officer screwed up his face, gestured around them at the available parking spaces, and said, “There are plenty of disabled spots...so what’s the problem?”

“Officer, I’m looking for a regular spot,” the driver replied.

“What for? I doubt there are any left now by this time of day – since no one uses them they’ve usually taken for granted by trades and delivery people.” He narrowed his eyes, peering. “But I don’t see one of those stickers on your windshield.”

The driver calmly answered, “No, I’m not a trades or delivery person, Officer. I’m also not disabled.”

The officer stiffened; vestiges of his basic training kicked in. He took half a step closer so that he could get a better view of the driver through the open side window. The guy did look mighty thin and sure enough, there was no disabled sticker on the windshield either. His right index finger began trapping on the butt of the holstered Taser. He had to be careful. If the perp was one of those whacked-out vitamin freaks, even a jolt of a few hundred kV might not be enough to restrain him. Some of the stories he’d heard at the station...“Sir, can you please extend your arm so I can scan your SID?”

The driver complied.

With his other hand, the officer used a palm-sized uplink to scan the driver’s Subcutaneous IDentity chip for Medicare records. Almost immediately the results appeared on the screen of the device, and the officer knew there was something very odd about this suspect. There were no records of any visits to medical practitioners or pharmacists for over 10 years...

Tensely, the officer advised, “Sir, you’re either involved in something very illegal, like one of those vitamin rackets, or you’re actually a very sick man and just don’t know it. I’d rather not even think about the first option.” But I have to, he thought, for my own safety. “I want you to look straight ahead and slowly place your hands on the steering wheel and then don’t move. Not a muscle, not even a twitch. I’ve got to call this in.”

Bewildered, the driver complied. Then, “Officer, I don’t understand. What have I done?”

“Sir, there’s nothing in your file: No blood pressure, diabetes or ADHD medication, not even antidepressants or sleeping pills...in short, you’re a walking time-bomb, just waiting to explode.”

Realising what he’d said, the officer backed away from the car, right hand now firmly grasping the butt of the Taser. Puffing from the exertion, “But I don’t want to upset you Sir. No, not at all. In fact, why don’t you just take a few breaths, calm down, and we’ll sort this out. Sometimes, somehow, some consumers slip through the cracks.” With an edge of desperate hope to his voice, he added, “Maybe even there’s a problem with your SID,” but didn’t believe a word of it.

What he thought was, Hopefully back up will arrive soon.

Risking a quick glance at the at the officer, who was shaking now as he whispered into his radio-mike, the bewildered driver murmured, “It seems I’m not the one who’s stressed here.”



After radioing base and receiving further instructions, with great caution a miniscule blood sample was taken from the suspect’s thumb and analysed on the spot using the cruiser’s sophisticated onboard equipment. The results confirmed the previous information gleaned from the SID’s Medicare records: “No sign of any pharmaceutical medications...”

Desperate to buy more time, “Sir, this instantly qualifies you for an on-the-spot diagnosis of H.A.D.”

“Had?”

That’s right; keep him talking...make non-threatening conversation, using a soothing tone...

With a kindly voice, “Health Adjustment Disorder: it’s a medical term that applies to people who simply won’t look after themselves.” The officer forced a smile to match his voice. “I know from your SID that you’re forty two years old, right?”

The driver, with his hands back on the steering wheel, shrugged. “Yes officer, that’s correct, of course.”

“Well, in my job, and being in the public eye all day, I have a responsibility to keep up with all the latest facts and figures. Also, all officers have to complete basic first aid and health training. And when it comes to consumer health, I can tell you that the probability of someone your age – or my age for that matter; and I’m a few years younger than you ’ not needing drugs to control your cholesterol, to manage your diabetes, and then some more pharma just to help you get through the day and get some sleep at night when you have all those other problems, well, it’s just about zero. Modern health science tells us that diabetes in particular needs to be monitored from birth, and psychological disorders like attention deficit can make themselves known as early as two years of age.” The officer shook his head. “From there on, it’s just all down hill: arthritis, a smorgasbord of cancers, heart and kidney disease, and a psychological disorder for every day of the year. You know, they’re actually finding new diseases and new mood disorders every day! Oh, the tabloids sometimes have ridiculous stories about consumers who claim they’ve never been sick, but when properly investigated, you learn that it’s just smoke and mirrors to keep their readers interested.” He winked. “You know, those who don’t actually do much reading at all, if you know what I mean.

“But the important thing for health consumers to remember is that to stay one step ahead, you know, while the doctors and researchers and companies are looking for cures, is that we all have to do our bit by looking after ourselves.” The officer sighed with relief — multiple sirens could be heard approaching. “And that means regular visits to your medical practitioner, and taking their advice. Literally.”

The driver spoke. “What are all those sirens for?”

The officer dismissed the question with a vague wave of a hand. With the other he produced a plastic bin from the cruiser. It had multiple lids on top, like segments of an orange, although the officer didn’t realise that connection. “See this?” he asked. “Great idea: each of these little compartments is labelled with a different time of day.” He looked at his watch. “Right about now, I should be having my early evening pills.”

He tipped a dozen into his hand.

The driver’s eyes boggled at the coloured collection of pharmaceuticals. “Oh dear,” he said, “What on earth are all those for?”

“Well, these blue ones are for my depression. The grey ones with the white stripes are for cholesterol, the ones with the red stripes for my gout, and...”

Three vehicles screeched around the corner, sirens and lights blazing and flashing as they spilled backup officers into the car park.

“...you’ll get to know all of them yourself pretty soon, once you get some appropriate care.”

A short time later, after the driver had been Tasered repeatedly and tied into a straight jacket – “You can’t take chances with these sorts,” the officers agreed – and bundled into the back of a padded van destined for a psychiatric institution, he realised that the police officer had been correct, after a fashion: after years of constant exercise, careful eating, and avoiding disease before it required ‘managing’, it was certainly a case of being ‘had’. Before the van had left the subterranean car park, he was already feeling the effects of the “emergency” drugs the paramedics had injected into his bloodstream.

Life would never be the same again.

Another addition from Sunni: If you enjoyed this story, please consider buying Shaun’s new book, Navigating in the New World. It’s a wonderful collection of speculative science fiction.

Yep, you can peer into your genetic code, without a medical monopolist’s permission slip required, for just under $1,000 USSA. The company offering this deal is deCODE, in Iceland.