Though our usual shtick is about markets, we noted that we will be adding some coverage on privacy issues. Ultimately, through the newsletter and other avenues, we'll be talking about what you can do about it. From the financial perspective, it should be a well known fact to our readers that we don't expect a fantastic result from our current economic travails. If history is any guide, and if you've read The Fourth Turning (as we recommended months ago--you can buy it from our bookstore under 'History'), we do not expect society 10 years in the future to be very promising for people that believe in social and economic freedom. The pages of history prove that the future from where we are is not pretty--and this will likely be on a global level.
As we've mentioned, our goals have shifted from gaming the markets based on these trends to looking at how to achieve freedom in an unfree world (also a great book in the bookstore). As part of the blog, we will be updating people on some of the goings-on in the world of privacy--for without privacy there can be no freedom. Each day we post articles on Twitter on the subject, so if you're interested, sign up to follow the tweets. The blog will be dedicated to more in-depth commentary.
The New Yorker posted an interesting piece on cyber warfare tensions between the Chinese and Americans and the implications on civil liberties (we would call them natural rights, not civil liberties, but that's a discussion for another time). It's definitely worth the read.
Of particular interest is the following passage regarding Army General Keith Alexander, the head of Cyber Command and director of the NSA:
...“General Alexander is not interested in communication privacy. He’s not pushing for encryption. He wants to learn more about people who are on the Internet”—to get access to the original internal protocol, or I.P., addresses identifying the computers sending e-mail messages. “Alexander wants user I.D. He wants to know who you are talking to.” [sic]
This brings us to the fundamental issue on privacy: as long as your belief is that some organization (government or otherwise) will respect your privacy rights, then you are doomed to failure. Look at the recent examples of Facebook, Google, MySpace, countless banks, etc where your data and privacy were compromised. Do you really believe that if for some reason the government wanted to get some dirt on you that they wouldn't compromise your private records?
The solution is one of self protection. Only you can rely on you. As long as you have *hope* that some unknown body of bureaucrats will protect you at all costs, you're setting yourself up to be a victim. It's your own fault. You've been warned.
WHEN things really start unraveling in the global economy, will you continue to rely on hope that things will be okay? Why not take steps now to do something while you can--after the worst case scenario happens, it's too late to prepare. Contact us directly for more information. Our expertise is helping individuals maximize their economic and social freedom.
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