Thank you for that link. I read it... and after pondering the story (especially in light of the NSA's storage of our communications), I found this to be the most frightening conclusion of all:
"My epiphany came here...
Joyce, Hopkins, Proust, Shakespeare...had sought immortality in their endeavors... And yet, here the government had actually done it... for all of us:everything written now preserved for evermore ? and if the United States of America had her way, it would be until the end of time. Our immortality in the mineral composition of database drives."
I have never desired, nor do I now, the preservation of my personal thoughts, ideas, and/or communications of any kind, which I sent specifically to certain individuals.
Around 10 years ago, it occurred to me that what is sent via the internet stays on the internet; and so, I made the decision a decade ago to never write or send that which I did not want preserved for posterity, frozen in databases for all time. I'm elated for that foresight, though at the time, my family & friends considered me "paranoid."
Even so, the fact that our written and spoken communications are stored (and depending on content, may earn us a visit similar to Mr. Sifton's)? should not only frighten us, but become the impetus for each and every one of us to refuse to make it as easy for them to continue doing so...
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Peter Wiggin.
To Demosthenes Locke
Thank you for that link. I read it... and after pondering the story (especially in light of the NSA's storage of our communications), I found this to be the most frightening conclusion of all:
"My epiphany came here...
Joyce, Hopkins, Proust, Shakespeare...had sought immortality in their endeavors... And yet, here the government had actually done it... for all of us: everything written now preserved for evermore ? and if the United States of America had her way, it would be until the end of time. Our immortality in the mineral composition of database drives."
I have never desired, nor do I now, the preservation of my personal thoughts, ideas, and/or communications of any kind, which I sent specifically to certain individuals.
Around 10 years ago, it occurred to me that what is sent via the internet stays on the internet; and so, I made the decision a decade ago to never write or send that which I did not want preserved for posterity, frozen in databases for all time. I'm elated for that foresight, though at the time, my family & friends considered me "paranoid."
Even so, the fact that our written and spoken communications are stored (and depending on content, may earn us a visit similar to Mr. Sifton's)? should not only frighten us, but become the impetus for each and every one of us to refuse to make it as easy for them to continue doing so...