You hit upon a key point. You can go through all these time-consuming gyrations to make yourself un-trackable but you never really know how successful you are, as surveillance and facial recognition technology (outside your cellphone device) is so pervasive.
Take our nations highways for example. Tollbooths have come down because it is so easy for cameras to take high resolution photos of your car's license plate and also the drivers of each car and send you a toll bill (or charge it to your EZ Pass account). Even if you did not carry a cellphone during your travels, law enforcement can easily piece together where you are going based on that technology alone. Ditto for every city street and public place. Using facial recognition, they can search for your face and see exactly what time you stepped into that Dunkin Donuts and whether you drove or walked there.
If fact, you have to wonder if taking evasive techniques to avoid being tracked like changing settings on your cellphone, taking back roads everywhere and paying cash only actually draws more attention to yourself.
Think about every "manhunt" over the past 20 years. Law enforcement always catches up to the guy. You can try to hide in a swamp or forest but sooner or later, you will slip up and reveal yourself. Unless an alligator or bear gets you first.
It's rapidly becoming an Orwellian world. There is no place to hide.
Wrote my post just just before your last before I read yours. Totally agree with you, but there is no reason to go willingly along with ‘them’ and not fight back. Not in my nature to accept concept that resistance is futile.
If fact, you have to wonder if taking evasive techniques to avoid being tracked like changing settings on your cellphone, taking back roads everywhere and paying cash only actually draws more attention to yourself.
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No doubt it does but this is where the history of an individual becomes important. If over the course of say the past 20 years, the individual in question has made it a consistent and clear point that she/he is not in favor of the massive state surveillance that is now upon us (through LTTEs, emails to friends/family, contact with politicians and others about this matter, discussions on news forums etc.) then at least the behavior is consistent. Is the benefit of ‘going off grid’ worth the big negative of drawing such unwanted attention to oneself by potentially folks like law enforcement worth it.... folks who can then easily paint the picture of an individual who is deliberately being evasive and therefore it is concluded that he/she is acting suspiciously. I don’t like that question because of all the insinuations associated with it.... the primary one being that the reason a person is taking steps to avoid ‘state data collection and Orwellian style surveillance’ is that he/she must be guilty of something.