And you think the mobile phone keeps your secret

Mobile phones are useful and have even become lifelines to many people these days. Many people feel that they cannot go anywhere without their mobiles. Many feel 'incomplete' if they leave home without it.

Strange how we've been conditioned to think like this. Other Half and I took Daughter for a drive in the small kampung and bund roads of Pendang, Tanah Merah, Bukit Raya and some other places which I've forgotten their names a couple of days ago.... I told him I used to travel those kinds of roads when I would go to schools in those kind localities for work-related-duties. And those days, I didn't have that incomplete feeling even though I did not have the mobile. I didn't think that I needed the mobile to feel safe... even on the small kampung roads... cos there was no mobile.

These days, most of us have this must-be-connected feeling all the time and to feel safe. I have also changed... See how easy it is for us to be conditioned. But I belong to a generation used to not having the mobile... I can still go out without my mobile and not be really bothered by it. I wonder whether my kids' gen can do without their mobiles at all.

But that feeling of needing-to-be-connected (also via the Net) has also enabled us to be tracked in ways never imagined before. I am reminded of these verses from Revelation 13:16-17, "He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.

The computer chip is one advancement that has made all these possible. An implant of a tiny RFID chip would make all of us very 'trackable'. Mobile phones have chips. And the day will come when the implant of this chip in humans will be a requirement. Who knows? Maybe pandemics will be a reason for it to be made mandatory. You can't buy or sell without the chip... the mark.

All of us know how difficult it is to get people to comply to self-quarantines. Just look at the current H1N1 scenario. True, there is fear, but there is also this group of nonchalant people (and also the unknowing people)... And it is this minority who will most probably finally make the majority push for something like the RFID... cos this chip can be used to monitor movements of people. And quarantines can be imposed... all their activities can be blocked; the authorities can locate you in a jiffy..... If you build up enough fear, people will agree to this sort of monitoring... all for the good of the greater mankind.

Anyway, back to the mobile phone. I came across this post in one of my wanderings around the net... it's an interesting article. Provides you with insights of what is available and also the possibilities. Read it at
http://humanityinmotion.blogspot.com/2009/08/sexy-spy-is-your-cell-phone.html. According to this article, your phone can be used to listen to what you say even when it is turned off. Techonology is pervasive. I think many of us don't quite grasp its full pervasiveness yet. SMSes can be tracked once a stealth software is installed into it. And you won't even know what hit you!

I find it believable cos I've heard hear says where authorities suddenly showed up and asked questions related to some SMSes received or sent out. So, is it surprising that Osama bin Laden has gone back to using human runners to send his orders and get news? He trusts his lieutenants more cos there is such a feeling called loyalty in a human. You can't trust an electronic gadget to keep its silence because it has no loyalty.