The Deal With the Ruthless, Greedy Internet Devils (Plural)

Likely most in the public didn't exactly understand the deal they were being asked to accept for the "right" to have free access to Facebook, Google and others. The almost voluminous agreements flashed onto our screens are all lengthy and complicated for a reason... SO YOU WON'T ACTUALLY READ THEM! Yes, we SHOULD read them, but few really do (I plead guilty), and the issuing companies know that. The info the technology companies have compiled on us, by various reports, is STAGGERING! We sold our souls and our very personas and the info they have on us will not stay contained; after all, this is about MONEY; therefore, NOTHING is off the table, because they will do ANYTHING for MONEY. Then there are the various Internet service providers to whom we PAY money for their service, and they track EVERY click we make on the Web. They know more about us than we can remember about ourselves! If you really believe these moneygrubbing exploiters won't use any of your medical or banking info, or info on your children or grandchildren, that they have pilfered or pillaged, you're being terribly naive. They want MONEY! Gazillions! Not a quarter of a gazillion, not a half a gazillion, not one gazillion, GAZILLIONS!

Last year, congressional Republicans and Trump repealed Obama rules on your browsing history that were set to go into effect to give individuals the right to approve the collection and sale of their private browsing history. The passage of the repeal by Congress and the signing of the measure by Donald Trump allows the internet service providers (separate from entities like Google and Facebook) to sell your collected browsing history without your consent. Let's start the bidding ... who will give us a bundle for a BUNDLE of info on these people? This is how the vote went in Congress:

Senate vote: 50 FOR, all Republicans, 48 AGAINST, all Democrats, 2 not voting, Republicans Johnny Isakson of Georgia and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

House vote: 215 FOR, all Republicans, 205 AGAINST (all voting Democrats and 15 Republicans*), 9 members not voting**, 5 vacancies***

* 15 Republicans against the measure: Brooks (MO), McClintock (CA), Coffman (CO), Yoder (KS), Graves (LA), Amash (MI), Zeldin (NY), Faso (NY), Stefanik (NY), Jones (NC), Davidson (OH), Sanford (SC), Duncan (TN), Herrara Beutler (WA), Reichert (WA)

** 9 members not voting: Sean Duffy (R-WI), James French Hill (R-AR), Tom Marino (R-PA), Robert Pittenger (R-NC), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Michael Simpson (R-ID), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Paul Tonko (D-NY)

*** One vacancy in each of these states: Montana, South Carolina, Georgia, Kansas, California

WORD HISTORY:
Plunder-In terms of this word's more distant history, this is a mystery word. It was borrowed by English from a sub-dialect of Bavarian German called "Hutterisch," spoken by "some" Protestant groups that grew out of the Reformation. The word "seems" to date to a noun form in the 1300s, at least, in German. In those times, the noun meant, "household goods," which also developed the extended meaning, "clothing." The noun spawned the verb "plundern," which later had an umlaut added to make, "plündern," meaning, "to carry off goods from a house." In those times, Low German and Dutch both had the similar verb "plunderen," while West Frisian had "plonderje," all with the same general meaning as the German verb, as well as, "to take over someone's possessions," with a growing emphasis on "taking possessions by force." German also developed "Plünderer," meaning, "one who plunders, one who takes possessions from others by force, a looter." Both the noun and the verb forms were borrowed by English during the first half of the 1600s. More or less as already noted, German has the verb "plündern," meaning, "to plunder, to loot," and the noun, "Plunder," which has now come to mean "junk, rubbish:" Dutch has the verb "plunderen," meaning, "to plunder, to ransack, to loot;" as well as the noun, "plundering," meaning, "the act of plundering, marauding."

How About We Follow The 'Net Execs Around?

If we followed the Internet execs around in their lives the way they follow us around on their sites or on the Web, we'd be arrested, but their money, and therefore, power, have made their following us around and gathering information on us, then selling or in other ways making deals with our info to make money, legal. Just because something is legal, doesn't necessarily mean it's right. Many correctly criticized the Gestapo and KGB for snooping on citizens for political purposes, now we let Internet companies snoop LEGALLY, and for MONEY! Just think of what they know about you. Let's face it, Yahoo got into trouble for reading their customers' emails, then passing along info to the government. This should scare the absolute hell out of you! The government knew private Internet providers had more info than they could collect! "Supposedly," Google and others turned down the government request for info on their customers. They'd rather keep it all to themselves, but hmm, I wonder if the Trump administration offered enough money ..... what would happen then? And how about when these companies get hacked? There goes your info, including silly, but still personal things, like, where you order pizza online, or more serious things, like, which political party or causes you like or donate to. Then of course, OOPS! You sent a sex message to someone and a picture of... ah, well, never mind.

Of course, the Internet execs state or imply, that they grant us free access to their sites in exchange for our info, not that many people even understand that. How many of us would "join" their sites if we had to pay for it? Zuckerberg just choked! (It's NOT just him, but he's prominent, and there are many others). He and others have a disconnect on the subject. They want money and they have justified their intrusion into people's personal lives, so they can get that money, which they have done, to the tune of billions and billions. That song is the tune they LOVE, not your privacy! 

I'll be doing another article on the overall subject of our personal privacy (ahh, what personal privacy?) soon, but it will have a separate title. 

WORD HISTORY:
Steal-The ultimate origin of this word is not firm, but it "seems" to come from Indo European "ster," which meant, "to steal," which "seems" to have carried the notion of, "to secretly take something from someone," as opposed to the ancestor of "rob," which had a much more aggressive notion of taking something, "to grab, to snatch." The Indo European form "may" have had a variant form, "stel," or Indo European's Old Germanic offspring changed the form, as Old Germanic had "stelanan," which meant, "to steal" ("seemingly" with that same "secret" part to its meaning). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "stelan," with the same meaning. The "secret" part that seems to be part of the meaning is far better seen in the derived, "stealthy;" meaning, "to secretly or sneakily move along (originally, "sneakily move along with the intention of stealing"). "Stelan" then became "stelen," before the modern form. Forms in the other Germanic languages: German and Low German Saxon have "stehlen," Dutch has "stelen," Danish has "stjæle," Norwegian has "stjele," Icelandic has "stela," Swedish has "stäla." I could not find a form in modern West Frisian, but Frisian once had "stela." 

An "Interview" With a Secret Yahoo Official

Hello, I'm Dan Ratherbe in Philadelphia and today I'm going to be interviewing an official of Yahoo, the American tech company, with international operations. The person prefers not to give their name or position with Yahoo. So here we go. (DR=Dan Ratherbe; SO=secret official)

DR: Hi secret official.

SO: Hi Dan.

DR: Just why are you doing this interview in secret?

SO: Well Dan, at Yahoo we operate in secret. We don't want the public to know much about us, but we want to know a lot about the public, and WE DO; at least those who have a Yahoo email account. By the way, you haven't used your Yahoo email account lately Dan, why?

DR: Well I like my privacy.

SO: Why? You have something to hide?

DR: Never mind, S.O. I may call you S.O.?

SO: Oh yes, please do, but I'd still like to know what you're hiding.

DR: We've heard numerous complaints about Yahoo, including about Yahoo reading the emails of its customers. Yahoo has had some financial fallout. How do you plan to correct that?

SO: Well there's no question, we've got to do a better job. After all, look at you. You haven't been using your email account and how the hell do you expect us to know what ads to target to you, if you don't use your account.

DR: Target ads to me? Like what?

SO: Well let me see what we have on you... check R..... here it is, Ratherbe, Dan... Hmm, wow, that's a pretty interesting username, "superstud."

DR: Hey, wait a second, you're telling my info in public!

SO: Yes, but the public can't see these pictures... Are those all Calvin Klein undies? Well, definitely no CK's in this pic, or any other brand either. I take back my earlier question about what you're hiding.

DR: Hey! That's enough of this.

SO: All right, all right. But see, now we know to target you with ads for underwear...  when you're using them.

DR: You see just how a person's private info can get out into the public?

SO: That's definitely the right term with you, private info.

DR: Let's get back to how you're going to clean up your act.

SO: YOU'RE telling US to clean up OUR act? I'd say that's pretty naked hypocrisy, if you'll pardon the expression.

DR: These were supposed to be private emails. Answer the question, we only have a few seconds.

SO: We at Yahoo work every day to earn our name. We work hard, so that no person on Earth can say we're not a bunch of Yahoos.

DR: And it most certainly shows, S.O.

WORD HISTORY:
Chatter-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown, but it apparently is a Germanic invention, seemingly imitative of sound. English at various times had "cheteren," "cheateren," "chiteren," then "chateren," all with the general meaning, "to chatter, to jabber." There are forms in other Germanic languages: German has "kaudern," meaning, "to speak gibberish, speak but not be understood;" Dutch has "koeteren," meaning, "to jabber, to chatter," Flemish has "schateren," meaning "chatter, jabber," Danish has "kvidre," meaning, "to chirp, to twitter," Icelandic has "kvak," meaning, "to twitter."

Mining For More Of Our Information

Websites and other businesses never rest in their quest to mine for more information on all of us. The information is then often sold to other businesses,* although some stores "claim" they only use the information to be able to tailor deals to us. In these cases, stores have their own discount cards issued to patrons, of course, AFTER the patrons fill out a form with lots of personal information. Shoppers must then present the card at checkout to receive any discounts on purchased items. Facebook, Google and other web businesses seem to always be asking for some tidbit from us; "Add your cell phone number to our records so we can send you info, or if you forget your password." Call to buy or inquire about an advertised item, what is the first thing they want? Your phone number, so they can then drive your crazy with calls about other "deals."** It never ends. With online sites, the next thing you find out is that there was a security breach and your personal info might be in the hands of criminals. These companies don't need all of this info! Now there have been recent scams of companies using telemarketers or robots to dial numbers in sequence to see which numbers are active; that is, where they get ringing and no message saying the number is not in service, or they get an answering machines or voice mail, or naturally a live person. Often these calls come from outside the United States as a way to circumvent the law. They also are often, but not always, recorded messages and another violation of the law. Perhaps we're fighting a losing battle, but it's OUR information and OUR privacy, protect it and use it wisely.

* I'm sure you've seen a "Privacy Policy" from many businesses. The thing is, who the hell takes the time to read the damned thing? They naturally want to keep things complicated so they can then say, "Well we gave you our policy and you didn't object." These policies often have clauses about sharing information with "affiliated" companies, which is another way to get around the intent of the law, especially for large corporations with many diverse companies under a corporate umbrella. In other words, if Randy sold you a fishing rod, does that mean Randy can now contact you to sell you a box of donuts from his "affiliated" doughnut shop? Or how about some auto insurance from his insurance agency? Or perhaps you'd like a book from his publishing company? And then, of course, I'm sure you'd enjoy a pizza from his pizza shop! (I AM joking about this stuff. I DON'T have a pizza shop! Ah OK, or an insurance company or a publishing company or....)

** Remember folks, once you buy or inquire and you give them your number, they are NOT bound by the "Do Not Call" laws, unless you eventually tell them to stop harassing, I mean, calling you. They then still have thirty days to remove your name from their call lists. Violations can be reported, even online, to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) or to many state governments, but to be quite honest, they are overwhelmed, and as I mentioned above, advances in technology have given the bad guys ways to disguise their identities, or to call from places outside the U.S., making it difficult to trace the calls. Not every organization is covered by the Do Not Call law, as political organizations and candidates can contact you, as can charitable organizations. Debt collectors may also call you, but there are restrictions.

WORD HISTORY:
Mine-This is the noun, as in "coal mine." The origins of this word are uncertain, but it apparently goes back to Old Celtic "meini," which seems to have meant "ore," but also "location to dig for ore." Gaulish,^ a Celtic dialect, had "mena," with the same meanings, and this was borrowed into Latin as "mina." This gave Old French, a Latin-based language, "mine," which was then borrowed by English circa 1300. The later additional meaning, "explosives usually planted in excavated ground," came from the idea of military engineers digging "mines;" that is, "tunnels, excavations," under enemy positions and then filling them with explosives to destroy them. The word then transferred to the explosive device itself, a "mine." This term then was even used for such explosive devices used at sea, and the ships used for distributing these sea mines were called "mine layers." The verb form "mine," meaning "to dig an (ore) mine," comes from the noun. Once the "explosive device" meaning emerged for the noun, so did the additional meaning for the verb; that is, "to dig and lay (explosive) mines in an area."

^ The Gauls were a Celtic tribal confederation who lived in what is now much of modern France, and indeed, the area was known as "Gaul," even after it was conquered by the Romans. The term "France" came later after the Germanic speaking Franks conquered much of the same area.

Privacy Is Out The Window

No question about it, many people wonder if their personal privacy is a thing of the past. Just about anywhere you go, someone has a camera, video, or microphone, taking pictures, recording your every move, or recording much of what you say. Interestingly, politicians often seem to be behind the curve on these issues, and they are frequently caught doing or saying things that are later used against them in political ads, or perhaps even to prove things they initially denied. Terrorism, or the threat thereof, motivated governments at national, state and local levels to position cameras around large public gathering places and important bridges, buildings, monuments and the like. With so much hatred in many places around the world, including right here in America, the likelihood of any of these "observation points" going away any time soon, is highly doubtful. And all of the private devices, including camera phones, are not going to go away anytime soon, if ever. So I'd say, "Get used to it."

What many people don't think about is how much of our personal info is available to others, and I mean to members of the public, not necessarily to your local mayor's office. Many folks probably don't realize that, in many states and localities, lots of records about you are a matter of "public record;" that is, anyone can have access to the info. Birth records, death records, and marriage records commonly, but not in all cases, fall into this category. Other records have a "bit" more privacy, but it doesn't take much to get into them. Here I'm talking about such things as your traffic violations, your credit records,* and your payment, or non payment, of certain taxes (often property). In years past, these records were available, too, but few people even knew about it, or if they did, they were usually not interested enough to get off their...ah...duffs, to go to whatever office had the info and look it up. Now, much of that same info is available online; no getting off your duff, no driving to a particular location, no standing in line, and no flipping through file folders. Click, click, click...and there it is!**

Now that the Internet has been in existence for awhile, companies are always collecting info about what websites you visit, and of course, if you buy things online, make payments, or do online banking, you "register" to have access to those accounts, and that means personal info is stored by these outlets, making them vulnerable to "hackers" or just momentary lapses in website security, or flaws in software.

Then there's the personal aspect to our info, and we can't ever get away from it (I guess?). Companies and government officials are always saying, "We don't sell your information or provide it to others." I'm sure many of these "disclaimers" are sincere, but if I work for your debit card bank, your mortgage company, or your small town mayor's office, once I see or have access to your info, and I mean legit access, I know things about you that cannot be "wished away." Once you give info to any company or government entity, it's out there, that's it! (A Word History is after the notes)

* Credit information companies use "scores" to put a number on your credit worthiness, and these credit scores are easily available to all kinds of individuals, employers, or credit grantors. Your more detailed info is, in theory, a bit more protected, but any business, including landlords, can "subscribe" (pay a fee) to a credit reporting company not only to see if you paid American Express for your last trip to the ski slopes or to the beaches of southern Florida, but whether you still owe on a student loan, a car, or a vacation home, and how much it is exactly that you owe on any of them.

** Having done a lot of genealogy over the years, I learned from genealogy researchers that in times past, if a woman became "with child" before marriage, it was not unheard of for the couple, and sometimes not even the actual "father" (no easy tests back then), to head off to some official, like a justice of the peace, in an area not necessarily all that far away, and get married. They had a certificate (usually) to show they had been wed, and in those times, your neighbor had to be pretty damned nosey to travel maybe twenty or thirty miles by horse or buggy to snoop on the couple's record and match up a child's birth with the marriage date; although I'm sure the "hell fire and damnation" folks probably did just that.

WORD HISTORY:
Camera-One source says this word goes back to Indo European "kam," but it was only one source. Greek, an ancient Indo European language related to English further down the family tree, had "kamara," which meant "something with an arched cover or vaulted room." Latin (also Indo European) borrowed the word, with the same basic meaning. English then took the word from Latin in the early part of the 1700s. Around that same time, the word was also being used for "a small black box with a lens that transferred images to an inside part of the device," as a short form of "camera obscura," or "dark chamber." By the mid 1800s, it became the word for a "device that takes pictures." As you may have noticed, it is closely related to CHAMBER, which is simply the French form of Latin "camera," and was borrowed into English in the 1200s. It therefore has the same history as "camera." French is a Latin-based language, albeit with a number of Germanic borrowings, when Germanic "Frankish" literally was absorbed by the Latin dialects spoken in much of what is now modern France.