Cutting Out the Middleman

I suspect that some readers might interpret this cartoon as a call for Luddism, but mostly it’s a reflection of thoughts I’ve been having lately about out-of-control data harvesting and a growing surveillance state. I find myself daydreaming about how one might go about circumventing the layer of invasive, extractive technology that comes between us and so many mundane tasks these days. Flip phones seem oddly attractive to me now, even though I hate texting on them and I’m not sure how I’d get by without a smartphone. (Tangentially, I’m reminded of a recent Onion headline, “Study: 97% Of Average American’s Day Spent Retrieving 6-Digit Codes.”) 

Many people don’t realize new cars are collecting reams of personal data and selling it. Consumer Reports and other organizations have published investigations about this, which I can’t add a link to at the moment due to a WordPress glitch, but which I encourage you to look up.

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