From My Perspective - - -
In a marketing ploy, “Unilever's Omo detergent is adding an unusual ingredient to its two-pound detergent box in Brazil - a GPS device that allows its promotions agency Bullet to track shoppers and follow them to their front doors. Starting next week, consumers who buy one of the GPS-implanted detergent boxes will be surprised at home, given a pocket video camera as a prize and invited to bring their families to enjoy a day of Unilever-sponsored outdoor fun. The promotion, called Try Something New With Omo, is in keeping with the brand's international ‘Dirt is Good’ positioning that encourages parents to let their kids have a good time even if they get dirty…The GPS device is activated when a shopper removes the detergent carton from the supermarket shelf. Fifty Omo boxes implanted with GPS devices have been scattered around Brazil…teams in 35 Brazilian cities are ready to leap into action when a box is activated. The nearest team can reach the shopper's home ‘within hours or days,’ and if they're really close by, ‘they may get to your house as soon as you do’…Once there, the teams have portable equipment that lets them go floor by floor in apartment buildings until they find the correct unit…” The Prize Offer is a free Video Camera.
In a similar way, a story that first appeared on July 25th indicates: “In an attempt to better manage inventory, Wal-Mart plans to use electronic identification tags (smart labels) on merchandise. Wal-Mart…is putting electronic identification tags on men's clothing like jeans starting Aug. 1 as the world's largest retailer tries to gain more control of its inventory. But the move is raising eyebrows among privacy experts.The individual garments, which also includes underwear and socks, will have removable smart tags that can be read from a distance by Wal-Mart workers with scanners. In seconds, the worker will be able to know what sizes are missing and will also be able tell what it has on hand in the stock room. Such instant knowledge will allow store clerks to have the right sizes on hand when shoppers need them…Wal-Mart's goal is to eventually expand the tags to other types of merchandise but company officials say it's too early to give estimates on how long that will take…Before the rollout, Wal-Mart and other stores were using the tags, called radio frequency identification tags, only to track pallets or cases of merchandise in their warehouses. But now the tags are jumping onto individual items, a move that some privacy experts describe as frightening…”
Google already has the ability to zoom to the location of your home address; the use of “cookies” on a computer reveal what websites one accesses; your PCs are programmed in such a way that Microsoft (and others) can routinely and automatically “update” one’s computer; the government wants greater control over Internet use so they can monitor and/or block data they deem inappropriate or detrimental. Sixty years ago, “Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell was published. It is about the totalitarian regime of the Party. The novel depicts an oligarchical collectivist society where life in the Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and incessant public mind control. The individual is always subordinated to the masses, and it is in part this philosophy which allows the Party to manipulate and control humanity. In the Ministry of Truth, protagonist Winston Smith is a civil servant responsible for perpetuating the Party's propaganda by revising historical records to render the Party omniscient and always correct, yet his meager existence disillusions him to the point of seeking rebellion against Big Brother, eventually leading to his arrest, torture, and conversion…” Is it possible this is where we’re heading today?
It is vital to have a fixed focus – especially in times of clear and present danger. We need to maintain the discipline of King David in Psalm 27:1-5, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?...Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.” It is wise to be prepared. What some deem to be fiction may be the forecast of what is to come! Consider these things with me!
In a marketing ploy, “Unilever's Omo detergent is adding an unusual ingredient to its two-pound detergent box in Brazil - a GPS device that allows its promotions agency Bullet to track shoppers and follow them to their front doors. Starting next week, consumers who buy one of the GPS-implanted detergent boxes will be surprised at home, given a pocket video camera as a prize and invited to bring their families to enjoy a day of Unilever-sponsored outdoor fun. The promotion, called Try Something New With Omo, is in keeping with the brand's international ‘Dirt is Good’ positioning that encourages parents to let their kids have a good time even if they get dirty…The GPS device is activated when a shopper removes the detergent carton from the supermarket shelf. Fifty Omo boxes implanted with GPS devices have been scattered around Brazil…teams in 35 Brazilian cities are ready to leap into action when a box is activated. The nearest team can reach the shopper's home ‘within hours or days,’ and if they're really close by, ‘they may get to your house as soon as you do’…Once there, the teams have portable equipment that lets them go floor by floor in apartment buildings until they find the correct unit…” The Prize Offer is a free Video Camera.
In a similar way, a story that first appeared on July 25th indicates: “In an attempt to better manage inventory, Wal-Mart plans to use electronic identification tags (smart labels) on merchandise. Wal-Mart…is putting electronic identification tags on men's clothing like jeans starting Aug. 1 as the world's largest retailer tries to gain more control of its inventory. But the move is raising eyebrows among privacy experts.The individual garments, which also includes underwear and socks, will have removable smart tags that can be read from a distance by Wal-Mart workers with scanners. In seconds, the worker will be able to know what sizes are missing and will also be able tell what it has on hand in the stock room. Such instant knowledge will allow store clerks to have the right sizes on hand when shoppers need them…Wal-Mart's goal is to eventually expand the tags to other types of merchandise but company officials say it's too early to give estimates on how long that will take…Before the rollout, Wal-Mart and other stores were using the tags, called radio frequency identification tags, only to track pallets or cases of merchandise in their warehouses. But now the tags are jumping onto individual items, a move that some privacy experts describe as frightening…”
Google already has the ability to zoom to the location of your home address; the use of “cookies” on a computer reveal what websites one accesses; your PCs are programmed in such a way that Microsoft (and others) can routinely and automatically “update” one’s computer; the government wants greater control over Internet use so they can monitor and/or block data they deem inappropriate or detrimental. Sixty years ago, “Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell was published. It is about the totalitarian regime of the Party. The novel depicts an oligarchical collectivist society where life in the Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and incessant public mind control. The individual is always subordinated to the masses, and it is in part this philosophy which allows the Party to manipulate and control humanity. In the Ministry of Truth, protagonist Winston Smith is a civil servant responsible for perpetuating the Party's propaganda by revising historical records to render the Party omniscient and always correct, yet his meager existence disillusions him to the point of seeking rebellion against Big Brother, eventually leading to his arrest, torture, and conversion…” Is it possible this is where we’re heading today?
It is vital to have a fixed focus – especially in times of clear and present danger. We need to maintain the discipline of King David in Psalm 27:1-5, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?...Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.” It is wise to be prepared. What some deem to be fiction may be the forecast of what is to come! Consider these things with me!
No comments:
Post a Comment