Gary Wolf of Wired Magazine was interviewed in a recent NY Times Magazine article regarding his views on information technology.: “...until a few years ago, it would have been pointless to seek self-knowledge through numbers. But now, technology can analyze every quotidian thing that happened to you today. 'Four things changed,' explains Wolf. 'First, electronic sensors got smaller and better. Second, people started carrying powerful computing devices, typically disguised as mobile phones. Third, social media made it seem normal to share everything. And fourth, we began to get an inkling of the rise of a global superintelligence known as the cloud.' And the next thing you know, exercise, sex, food, mood, location, alertness, productivity, even spiritual well-being are being tracked and measured, shared and displayed."

   This view is a good synopsis of the nature of the Information Age and the rapidly approaching revolutions in privacy that are snowballing towards us with each passing day.

   His analysis may seem flawed to the layman, but is actually very accurate when parsed by those who track technological innovation.

  Let us examine the hows and whys of some of his contentions:

  Exercise: WiFi wristbands act as pedometers to keep track of your foot falls, but also track you GPS location, direction of travel, time, pace and heart rate. Newly available commercial snow goggles register your speed, distance from objects, temperature, wind speed and more.

   Food: The GPS in your cell phone and texting devices allow you to Tweet about the store or eatery that you are browsing while in the establishment. This automatically tracks your location and identifies the shop that you are in for ease of posting. Your Tweets are stored at the Library of Congress while your Yelp! postings are available for anyone to view. Orders of food on your credit card and debit card are electronically tracked, giving the merchant you name and residency. Super markets collect you data on discount cards. Starbucks tracks your every order online when you use their discount or prepaid cards.

   Mood: Tweet what you feel, post a note on your FaceBook wall, tell people what your doing now on LiveJournal, smile for the CCTV camera, buy St. John's wort to elevate your mood, buy melatonin to relive sleeplessness, drink booze to sooth a bad day, and do it all over again the next day. Every action speaks to a mental state which is a mixture of interests, emotions, ideas, plans and ideals. Things can be inferred from the simplest snapshots of life.

   Location: this is an easy one as it is done in so many ways. Your GPS unit in your car lets you navigate the roads. Your satellite radio link gives you access to hundreds of stations while tracking your location. Your bridge toll pass allows you to bypass toll booths with electronic payment. Your cell phone tracks your every move. Your debit and credit cards tell time and place (not to mention the items purchased). You are predictable because you work a job or take classes and are in the same place daily for the scheduled event. Your interests speak to you lifestyle: if you party every Friday night, then you'll do so again. If you love baseball, then you'll be at the ballpark for the big game when your team is in town. A recent study showed that people are over 90% predictable even with out tracking. Tracking bridges that gap.

   Alertness: covered previously: sleep aids, late nights, Red Bull purchases, coffee intake, traffic tickets, and more; all speak to issues of alertness. Again, this is a case of information that can be inferred, based on other data.

   The point to be made here is that our lives are increasingly being subject to review by corporations and others who are interested in us for a variety purposes, ranging from marketing to exploitation (some might argue that the two are in fact one in the same). My mantra that people that you don't want to see might show up on your physical or virtual doorstep: debt collectors, repo men, process servers, ex-loves, unwelcome distant relatives, door-to-door salesmen, missionaries, scam artists, and more.

   The only solution is to never purchase anything, get a ful body transplant to mask your identity, live in a Himalayan cave and learn to love the flavor of guano....no, wait, that's my cure for the common cold...not very effective, but it keeps you away from me.

   The actual solution is to be more aware of your cloud. It is part and parcel to your property. Each account that you set up online must be viewed and reviewed for the content you put onto it, the terms of service offered by the provider, and the security / privacy option offered. Every purchase you make must be measured for it's worth against the value of a discount card and the fact that that very discount card will be forever tied to your credit / debit card in a commercial database for future marketing analysis. Every payment you make must be analyzed against the option of paying cash for the security it provides against identification. We must look at our cell phone settings and weigh the advantages and disadvantages of having the GPS toggled on or off. We must decide whether to use anonymous internet browsers while online. We must determine the value of using pseudonyms for our online accounts. We should pause before opening our Twitter feeds to full public view as they will be archived in the Library of Congress forevermore. We can wear burkas and Groucho Marx glasses every time we exit our homes in order to hide our identities from prying papparazzi'. Ok, the last one is a bit too much, but you see my point. Our privacy is not going to be protected by anyone but ourselves. This is the nature of Rights. They are for the individual to know, exercise, and assert, so be proactive and check you security settings!