London transport have recently introduced the Oyster smart card which tracks and records your movements.
I didn't know this, but apparently British law states that mobile phone companies have to keep a record of your movements based on the cells into which your phone has moved.
Tescos has been trialing smart tags, devices that can be hidden in shop bought products and later remotely scanned for a unique number. This number can be cross referenced against the details taken from you when you paid for the item (with credit card of course). The upshot is that someone only has to be within 20 meters of you to find out who you are, and all your shopping habbits.
If you add London's extensive CCTV coverage to this equation, the technology is there to track you whereever you go in most of the UK.
Also in the news this week has been David Blunket's proposals for a national ID card system, an non-compulsary system which looks like it will become very inconvenient to avoid.
The phrase 'thin end of the wedge' spings to mind. Where will all this lead? The companies and organisations introducing this technology state that the information will only be used for benign purposes, or when crimes are being commited. But a) we only have their word for it, and b) things change. Information is the new commodity.
I spend a large portion of my life immersed in technology. I am fascinated by it, hell I earn my living from this fascination. But paradoxically I also find myself becoming more frightened of it at the same time. Maybe knowing intimately what can be done with it makes me more aware of how it can be abused.