Now people, listen. I'm not a paranoid maniac. I'm not going to sit down on my porch with a shotgun anytime soon, and I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat. I'm not even going to vote for the Pirate Party, not now nor any time I can imagine. I think Obama is American-born and I don't think 9/11 was an inside job. I don't think there is a hidden world government that is breeding mutant lizard people at Denver airport, I don't think there is a secret society of Illuminati who meet at Bilderberg and I know the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are a forgery.
What is really happening in the world is not a secret oligarchy trying to take over our lives and trying to enslave us, but with some things you can imagine how people come to believe in this crap. Reality is much less spectacular but somehow, much more disturbing.
Does anybody remember how Bill Gates used to be compared to Hitler and people thought he was evil incarnate? You know, like this:
And then people looked for alternatives, and some nerds built together Linux which is a great invention, but unfortunately not for people who use computers only casually. So there was this other guy, Steve Jobs and his Apple, this guy who was reputed to be completely free of ulterior motives and offered people a working computer that you didn't have to pledge allegiance to and buy expensive software for to use properly.
Well, that was back in 1995, perhaps.
At some point, Apple moved beyond computers and started developing, how shall I say, surveillance technology.
Anybody remember this ad? Well, it's coming back at them:
iPhone keeps record of everywhere you go
Privacy fears raised as researchers reveal file on iPhone that stores location coordinates and timestamps of owner's movements
(Link to an article on Guardian.co.uk)
A particularly disturbing passage is towards the end of the rather lengthy article:
I've been saying this for a bit more than two years now: Everything people hated Microsoft for is being done by Apple now, and everything people feared Microsoft would be doing is being done by Apple now, yet everybody cheers for Apple and Steve Jobs, and everybody buys this iShit and let it take over their lives, and now even let it threaten their privacy and freedom. This is crazy! Please, iLovers, I know there are some among you here, please justify this to me. Please tell me why, if you consider these news, you are still going to buy Apple products. I'm holding my breath.
What is really happening in the world is not a secret oligarchy trying to take over our lives and trying to enslave us, but with some things you can imagine how people come to believe in this crap. Reality is much less spectacular but somehow, much more disturbing.
Does anybody remember how Bill Gates used to be compared to Hitler and people thought he was evil incarnate? You know, like this:
And then people looked for alternatives, and some nerds built together Linux which is a great invention, but unfortunately not for people who use computers only casually. So there was this other guy, Steve Jobs and his Apple, this guy who was reputed to be completely free of ulterior motives and offered people a working computer that you didn't have to pledge allegiance to and buy expensive software for to use properly.
Well, that was back in 1995, perhaps.
At some point, Apple moved beyond computers and started developing, how shall I say, surveillance technology.
Anybody remember this ad? Well, it's coming back at them:
iPhone keeps record of everywhere you go
Privacy fears raised as researchers reveal file on iPhone that stores location coordinates and timestamps of owner's movements
(Link to an article on Guardian.co.uk)
A particularly disturbing passage is towards the end of the rather lengthy article:
Apple can legitimately claim that it has permission to collect the data: near the end of the 15,200-word terms and conditions for its iTunes program, used to synchronise with iPhones, iPods and iPads, is an 86-word paragraph about "location-based services".
I've been saying this for a bit more than two years now: Everything people hated Microsoft for is being done by Apple now, and everything people feared Microsoft would be doing is being done by Apple now, yet everybody cheers for Apple and Steve Jobs, and everybody buys this iShit and let it take over their lives, and now even let it threaten their privacy and freedom. This is crazy! Please, iLovers, I know there are some among you here, please justify this to me. Please tell me why, if you consider these news, you are still going to buy Apple products. I'm holding my breath.