while we constantly view ourselves as individuals, such a mindset is extremely dangerous to our privacy as it ignores the factors which make our lives available for consumption.

we fail to recognize how much information can be gained about us by looking at the rest of the population: e.g. "Simply put, the only way that President Obama can gain some level of anonymity with regard to his IMEI number is if everyone in his team also changes their IMEI numbers with the same regularity." article

we believe we are unpredictable. thinking that we are truly unique and do not fit into any recognizable pattern allows us to dismiss many of the dangers that exist.

-- MattDavisRatner - 05 Mar 2009