Slippery slope. That's it. I tire of the "I have nothing to hide" sentiment because that's what leads to this slippery slope turning into an avalanche. What too many people here in the States seem to always forget is that the Constitution has many guarantees for our citizens with regard to our government (Yet there are all so many legal loopholes that now run right through them....) and many of these guarantees don't apply to private businesses. Businesses can spy on their employees, fire them for political party bumper stickers, you name it. Your internal IM's, emails, etc., at work are being observed, read, etc. by many, many businesses. Most major corporations are major Orwellian institutions as it is. When my business lets our customers know that we don't sell, barter, etc., any personal data, whatsoever, the response is usually pure shock by most today. I've had companies tell us that we are fools for not monetizing the data that we have, but I'm not bring our operation down to the gutter that most have sunk into today.
From private companies to government, our most sensitive information is accessible by millions upon millions of citizens in both the States and the many countries where work is outsourced to. It doesn't matter? Bull, it does. Identify fraud, theft, etc., many of these things happen because of crooked people on the inside being able to access all
too much information.
At what point does all of this data that a government or corporation possess send us to the road of the Minority Report of arrests for crimes that haven't been committed? It might seem funny, but there is a lot of seriousness here. We have a government that uses drones around the world and any male 14+ can be labeled as an actor on the battlefield or enemy combatant. Police forces in this country are clamoring for drone fleets, which are only really in a holding pattern as the FCC and FAA work on regulations. If people don't see that there is problem here, then they're wearing blinders.
Nothing to hide? That's not the point. Whenever a country starts taking what were guaranteed freedoms away in the name of safety and security, the endgame is never good historically for its people or country. This isn't a liberal or conservative issue, Democratic, Republican, Green, Alien, Purple, whatever party, it's an issue for all citizens of all stripes.
If it's bad enough that the government is snooping, I find it to be even far worse that a private corporation is using me in some over-the-top data mining orgy as @
WDW1974 has basically described it. If the rubber wrist band acted as a ticket and cardless/cashless payment system, that's one thing and one thing that would be of good convenience for many, but it appears that the system is really more of a handcuff where a corporation knows you a heck of a lot better than your next door neighbor. What happens to the data? Will they sell the data? Are you eating too much junk food on your trip? Are they going to sell this to a healthcare insurer that will then in turn raise your premium for your unhealthy eating habits? (You know, this would give them hard evidence of your poor habits.) It's not that those scenarios will happen with certainty, but the slippery slope allows for things to snowball into what seems to be implausible to many.
