INTRODUCTION

 

Can you feel it? That tingling in your spine; the crawling sensation in your skin that means someone’s eyes are on you? Everywhere you go, it happens. Strangers on the train stare at you—are they following you? People lurk in alleyways, watching as you walk by—are they sizing you up as a victim? Corporations analyze every purchase you make, tracking your age, gender, spending habits, and even your medical history. Governments peer through your windows, read your e-mail, and listen in on your phone conversations. No one is anonymous, no one is ever alone, and there is no such thing as a secret. Most of what you do is recorded, collated, and filed. You are under surveillance.

We live in a world where privacy has been traded for great deals on today’s special; where individuals have sacrificed their freedom for the sake of what feels like safety. Your friends willingly volunteer information about themselves—and about you—for the sake of scoring points in a game or saving a few bucks on their next cup of coffee. The trappings of daily life disguise a host of tracking devices operated by people dedicated to serving your needs—or exploiting your weaknesses.

The currency of the day is information. Nations and economies are founded on it; corporations thrive on it; spies and stalkers will torture, maim, and kill for it. What you consider a single useless fact—your driver’s license number, the name of your elementary school—is a bit of data worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. Treasure so valuable kings once rode to war for it sits lightly in your hip pocket.

Information is power. People with power want more of it, and people without power seek to gain it. Whether that means spending vast amounts of time and money collecting and collating thousands of terabytes of data on the movements and behavior of an entire population or lurking in the shadows to learn the secrets of a single individual, people have cultivated the habit of watching one another for centuries.

These days, everyone in the world leaves a trail of information in his wake. Like a buck moving through the woods, your spoor is invisible to the untrained eye, but to a person who knows what he’s looking for, it’s plain as day. Your trail makes you vulnerable to hunters. It tells them where you’ve been, hints at where you’re going, and tells anyone who looks everything they could ever want to know about you.

Hunters come in all forms. Market research firms sift through mountains of personal information looking for patterns that can serve as leverage to open new markets. Governments scan the crowds for information on dangerous terrorists and dirt on political opponents. Spies pry fragments of intelligence from the smoking ruins of an enemy’s computer—or the stiffening grip of his dead hand. Criminals watch and wait, looking for marks foolish enough to display a moment of weakness. Everything of value is eventually found out by someone, and every piece of information in the world has value.

Billions of dollars are spent collecting and analyzing this information. The economy of the developed world is based on this data and develops based on the abilities of governments and corporations to use it to manipulate your behavior. Billions more flow through the black market, tied to your credit card numbers, your mother’s maiden name, your passport photo, and your social security number—all lifted without your knowledge by a vast and shadowy network of government officials, corporate shills, and international criminal cartels.

If you’re not a commodity, you are a target. Someone, somewhere, is ready to pay for your precious personal data. No matter where you are, someone is watching you.