by Julie Beal, Contributor Activist Post

Even as the corporate giants position themselves for control of our identities, the minute details of our lives are already being scrutinised and analysed and completely and utterly bastardised. They can never truly know who we are, for we are forever changing, and self-understanding is a lifelong process.

Inside knowledge has always been sought by the power-hungry; it’s an age-old thing. Knowledge is power. So our profiles are built, and updated, and said to constitute who or what we are. Our personal data is used to feed super-brain computers in an attempt to control and enslave and profit from us.

They think they have our identities. But what can they do with what they’ve got? Well, we all know that companies are collecting information about our habits, and selling it to advertisers. This data forms a rude sketch of our identity (I am more than my ID profile!), as it is often erroneous and, above all, incomplete. However, surveillance techniques are becoming more and more sophisticated and widespread, as are the methods being employed to analyse and share the data being compiled. These techniques constitute the profiling of our identities on a global scale: by government and law enforcement, businesses, and academics.

Data-mining
Every time you go on the Internet you are creating a trail of data – crumbs of personal information which combine to become highly valuable. Each crumb is worth about two-fifths of a cent, and is collected and sold to advertisers. Information can be gathered in a number of ways; for instance, cookies which can track your every move as you click through webpages, and apps that can look at your contact list and even your location.

Other personal data such as credit card transaction details also offer insight into a person’s identity. This personal data is being bought and sold for marketing purposes, and anyone else who wants to try to predict what people’s future behaviour is going to be – many businesses use profiling on current and potential employees.

Continue: http://www.activistpost.com/2012/09/smartworld-identity-ecosystem-p...