Sunday, July 18, 2010

Nothing To Hide Behind

I’m not necessarily sick of being called Ginx, but I was inspired by Nikkolas of Skeptical Eye to begin using my own name. Maybe I changed the spelling… maybe I didn’t. Maybe I switched my first name to my last and my last to my first… maybe I didn’t. Maybe I even used my middle name in place of my first or last name… maybe I didn’t.

Rest assured, my parents loved me enough to not use “Ginx” as my middle name.

Feel free to call me Ginx, or Bret, or Alan, or douchebag, or fucktarded assclown, whatever. If you’re commenting on a post, usually “you” is even sufficient. I’m really not picky. I just think you guys deserve to call me something besides a pseudonym. Hell, we even know DM’s name (Dennis Markuze).

Maybe the world could use less anonymity. We worship privacy, or at least our illusion of privacy. People are afraid to share their names online for fear that random people will attack them. Statistically, if you are murdered, you willingly gave the person a key to your house (and they usually are or were related to you).

We also flip out, crying “Gestapo!” when traffic cameras or police operated CCTV street corner surveillance systems are suggested. Meanwhile, there are not hours, but months and even years of footage of each and every one of us, not in the hands of a constitutionally bound government, but among private security firms, stores, and even residences.

I am not worried about “invasions of privacy,” so much as I am upset about the implications of why people need privacy. And they do need it.

I live in a country where many ridiculous things are legislated against. Not long ago, homosexual sex could have landed you in jail, and Texas is hoping to revive the practice. Drugs are also illegal, and the selective enforcement of the narcotics ban is, in my opinion, the single greatest racial problem in America today.

The bottom line: there are things people would be punished for doing if they were caught that I believe they should be allowed to do. However, I think seeing what people are actually doing may even help us begin properly legislating, as people can no longer hide. An accurate picture may help us come to our senses.

I’m not saying put cameras in homes, but public places (where anyone with a camera phone can “invade your privacy” at any second) are not subject to privacy beyond illegal search and seizure without probable cause.

If the police were stopping everyone on a street and searching them, I would say it was an invasion of privacy. If a camera records everything that happens, I’m not worried. Bear in mind, most surveillance footage is never viewed. Unless there is a reason to review the tape (e.g. a crime in the area is reported), most security videos collect dust and deteriorate.

I think it would also help to make the cameras conspicuous. Besides being a very real deterrence to crime (much more so than random citizens carrying concealed weapons), it would remind people… maybe so they don’t pick their nose or choose that spot for a quickie in the bushes.

10 comments:

  1. I'm glad I was finally able to inspire someone.

    Now I'm going to calmly go flip out over your pro-police camera views.

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  2. Why not just make them public record?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ginx, what template do you use for your site out of curiousity?

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  4. Picture Window #3, with a different background and lots of tweaks, obviously.

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  5. With that,

    Why are Armenians eating lasagne?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I do not use my real name... cause of the job that I do. Little paranoid like that. Reading this, it kinda struck me. I have never once considered the thought that using my real name could make me open to personal attack. Ginx, that is the hard core difference between a Canuck and an American. Tristan knows my real name though, and I am suspecting that Gandolf and Feeno does too. They emailed me, and I think that you can see it on the signature line.

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  7. BTW- DM is from Montreal. Lucky us.

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  8. Now just a minute there, Ginx*. I won't have you interfering with my constitutional right to have a quickie in the bushes.

    Whaddaya mean, there's no such right? It's right there in the forty-second amend- Oh, they haven't passed that one yet, have they? What century is this again?

    * 'Cause I actually like Internet pseudonyms.

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  9. Honestly, I don't think public sex is a big deal. We don't lock up dogs for doing it, and kids are more likely to laugh then need therapy after seeing either.

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  10. When The Atheist Missionary came out of the atheist closet and revealed his real name, I briefly considered starting to use mine. But then, privacy is the reason why I'm not on stupid networking sites like Facebook. There are people in my past that I want to leave in the past (the bipolar ex, for instance). I have no intention of becoming a celebrity. One time I ran out of a store when I saw a TV crew in it. Had no intention whatsoever to be interviewed.

    Sure, I enjoy public speaking. I enjoy being the party clown. I enjoy acting. I like to speak my mind and express my opinions. But I really don't need to use my real name.

    My blog is seeded with misinformation about my ethnicity, age, marital status, gender, national origin, place of employment, and my place of residence. Or is it?

    Only Google knows the truth.

    All Hail Google!

    ReplyDelete

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