As the intertwining malaise of privacy violations and concerns weave a level of despondency among the digital hierarchy, and more importantly the billions of end-users susceptible to a Silicon Valley power trip, the prevalence of improbable willfulness should not be ignored. Sporting a likeness to a sketchy and entitled overbearing census worker car camping near the neighborhood playground in a creepy van furnished with curtains stamped with a pleasant pattern of severed heads, Google continues a steep descent towards the hellfires of pure evil.
The lucrative cult company has deployed an army of data collectors to secure the ultimate prize of online individuality, and the social pathogen is spreading throughout urban corridors and college campuses with little resistance thanks to a recent and sharp decline in IQ, and the addiction to instant gratification trending madness. They, the Google leaders and undisputed galactic champions of eliminating privacy, are going after personal smartphone facial scans, as recent college graduates not qualified for the modern workforce and loser adults highly cynical and not yet full blown sociopaths have been hired to pair up in cities carrying rugged devices and pockets full of gift cards to entice the gullible and begin the harvest. The troubling process is simple, a willing individual poses for digital photo snapped by the street team, and is given a $5 Starbucks gift card as compensation for their likeness technically now owned by Google on some nefarious level, reports ZD Net. Not even the venerable Oprah can put a positive spin on this hedonistic orgy of perverted corporate ethics that make West Hollywood porno shoots seem suitable for the pages of National Geographic.
In dealing with the devil after casting wisdom into a frenzied Amazonian Piranha swamp, the best course of action is to negotiate the sweetest deal, especially with the idea eternal control linked to the soul. However, the art of bartering has gone extinct along with any inclination of resolve, as a chaotic future looms in the age of feelings first and reason as obscure and unpopular as a vintage candle holder resting on a piano and covered in three decades of dust. The younger generations continuously commit the cardinal sin of not looking in both directions when crossing the street, and possessing an uncanny trust for strangers lurking on street corners brandishing the latest smartphones. Come on Darwin’s theories, start doing something about it!
Apparently, the entity known for the blatant abuse of privacy policy and aggressively forwarding a political agenda, is using the campaign of unceremoniously hijacking and rendering the portraits of individuals to boost facial recognition technologies in a product line of powerful and ruthlessly eloquent smart devices that will out the identity of anybody and everybody at a boisterous masked Halloween party. Chinese government officials and corporate executive are secretly and inwardly smiling at the innovative and complex development of electronic optical enhancements, as thanks to the efforts of Google, the social networks, and drones and other mainstream products, the PLA will not longer have to invest billions in birthing and training human spies. Sooner or later it will all be part of the greater Beijing surveillance network, and the remote tracking, monitoring, and processing will take place in innumerable control centers from Pyongyang to Hanoi. Yes, it will be just just one happy world, where the cameras never sleep and the selfies flow in intoxicating digital rivers and drowning uniquity under a raging vapid current of shared experiences shared by millions.
Which is worse, the audacity of Google to sell out its own users in a deplorable act of cannibalism, or the maddening reality of a society which is completely and cheerfully oblivious in allowing the tech giants to continuously utilize sensitive data to accrue monumental profits and egregiously meddle in politics, and in doing so compromising national security?
The Stockholm Syndrome is an interesting phenomenon, and as a majority of consumers continue a tumultuous love-hate relationship with an unfeeling tyrant, one ponders if we deserve what we get as pathetic shills in a game that is no longer fair nor fun. With the virtual walls of tech tycoons lined with the head shots of the masses, the hunting trophy celebrations resonate boisterously throughout San Jose and surrounding communities.
Five dollars towards a Venti Chai Latte with extra whipped cream is the most important and priceless gesture in a world where a past measured in years in longer applies. Smart money says skip the cup of coffee and invest in a Faraday cage.
Read the ZD Net story here.
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