Just Write Communications
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • News
  • Clients
  • Testimonials
  • Writing Tips
  • Weekly Chuckle
  • Meals We Steal
  • Bad Golf

Low Level Paranoia

1/5/2014

0 Comments

 
It’s hard to peg when this syndrome started, but probably sometime in the past 5-6 years would be a round, fairly accurate number.  It’s come about because of the increasing number of electronic sites we visit to deposit data about ourselves. 

To shop, bank, make vacation plans, rent cars, reserve a hotel room, order clothes, as a society we are going online more and more for these decisions.  And because of that, we are ceding control of information, trusting others to protect it.

From credit card companies to retailers, travel agents, Amazon and other huge companies, we send out our addresses, phone numbers, email, and credit card information.  Doing so, we place massive trust in entities we don’t really know.

For the most part, that trust is repaid.  Though there are breaches and many people can list personal examples of having to close down accounts, recover their identities or change passwords, in the majority of cases, we are safe and things function the way they should.

Despite this knowledge, most of us operating in a first world economy, using current tools of technology, live with a steady state of low level paranoia that at any time, our personal information could get stolen and we could lose a lot of money to a criminal.   I know I do. 

In fact, low level paranoia makes sense.  It’s healthy.  It means you remain a skeptic, and the companies you are entrusting to serve you continue to earn it daily.  They need to pay us back with protection, or we will take our business elsewhere.

That’s why the recent breach at Target is such a titanic headache for the company.  They have now lost their customer’s trust.  Earning it back is much harder.

Several years ago, a friend of mine had her checking account compromised.  I saw her on an almost daily basis at work.  Over the next several months, the topic of her trying to recover her identity was a repeated discussion topic.  The headaches she encountered (closing the account; opening a new one; cancelling payments; calling businesses to explain what happened) were almost beyond belief.  It gave me a headache just listening.

The issues today have multiplied as we further connect electronically, sending payments through the air rather than hand to hand.  We lose touch literally and figuratively of how we are paying.  We worry more.  Low level paranoia increases every time you hear of someone you know who has had to cancel a credit card because it was suddenly racking up unknown charges.

Companies have evolved the past 5-6 years to fight this fraud.  Think about it:  These companies did not exist 10 years ago.  Now, for a fee, you can have your identity managed and protect by a third party.  If it wasn’t so ubiquitous in society, it would certainly seem weird and threatening.

“Yeah, I pay this company 14 bucks a month so that my life doesn’t get hacked.  Seems like a small price for safety.”

Maybe it’s not, but if low level paranoia about identity theft didn’t exist, neither would those companies.  They capitalize on our fears.

Sometimes you have to wonder what it would be like to go back to a barter and trade society or one that is fully cash-based.  The only way to pay is to agree that what you are handing over meets the price of the seller and you place something tangible in his hands (cash or the item you are using to barter with). 

With technology leapfrogging, we aren’t going back.  Target is not going to be able to put the genie back in the bottle.

At the same time, common sense should prevail. Take reasonable measures to protect yourself: Choose complicated passwords and change them regularly.  Don’t open emails that seek personal information.  Make wise choices, and the paranoia eases.   

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    Categories

    All

Proudly powered by Weebly