Characters

  • SGT Juni Okuda
  • SFC Joe Rock

Locations

  • S-2 Office, 213th BN

You got to get your encouragement where you can find it these days, I suppose.

The world is, of course, linked electronically. Computers, systems, networks, whatever– it is all an interconnected web with only a few “closed loop” systems isolated from the rest of the world. But even those closed systems run on the same commercially-made “boxes full of chips” that come from a handful of suppliers… the bulk of which are in China.

Now, this was done for obvious reasons: it was cheaper to manufacture this stuff in China, and everyone, from corporate CEOs all the way down to the home purchaser wants to save a buck. But at the same time, people also complain about how your devices track you, or maybe listen in on you, and so on.

While some fears about “the machines are watching you” is rooted in paranoia, not all of it is. And again, there are obvious reasons why some of our devices do, in fact, track us– but it is not because some spy in a trench coat with popped collars and a low Fedora are listening in on us and reporting it to shadowy figures in three-letter agencies. Rather, it is because while companies want to save a buck, they also want to make a buck.

Movement, purchases, and social media are tracked because companies want to know where to put advertisements that appeal to you, so they can line their pockets. That’s about as nefarious as it gets; it’s good ol’ capitalism intruding on our lives so they can sell you something that, in all likelihood, do you don’t actually need. “They” are not going to track you because you sold your car to your cousin and didn’t report it on taxes.

Still, with Chinese spy balloons in the recent past and all our computers and devices made in China, and can’t resist playing with that a bit.

Stay safe out there, and remember– the next time someone tells you you’re being paranoid, ask who told them to say that.

Characters

  • SGT Juni Okuda
  • SFC Joe Rock

Locations

  • S-2 Office, 213th BN

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