Thursday, May 08, 2008

Trace Evidence

I had to get fingerprinted this morning. A lot of different organizations have been requiring this lately, and it's a good thing, I'm sure, for most purposes. At the same time, it feels kind of weird.

I have a vague remembrance of giving a thumbprint in grade school as part of some sort of kids' safety initiative - perhaps involving McGruff, the Crime Dog - but this time they did all of my fingers and my thumbs and took a picture. Something about it was a little, "Whoah!" Like, "There goes my privacy!" Not that I'll likely ever have to worry about being a suspect or anything like that, but all the same ... What if I decide to re-invent myself and go chase tornadoes in Tornado Alley? Or, be a librarian in a remote, small town? All it would take is that one discarded paper cup for someone to track me down (hat tip: all my TRU/Court TV shows.)

Of course, this is coming from someone who jokes (sort of) about putting chips in her future children, just like they do for cats and dogs. Hey - really - why not?

3 comments:

El Jefe Maximo said...

I did that in law school, and remember how trippy it was. I also had a background investigation done one time, which is about as weird.

I suppose it's good. As long as you trust the holders of the records, and the watchers of the chips. Actually, all that's minor league next to data mining.

It's amazing how much we use, enjoy and generally depend on computers. But I sometimes wonder if we might not be better off if some weird robo-techie thing zapped all the computers. I could live without them. . .I think.

Candidly Caroline said...

At this point, I think we are probably better off if we just assume things are NOT private. Like, when I heard they were going to be able to access our library records, I thought, "You mean they couldn't already?"

Have at it, as far as I'm concerned. My library book check-outs are just as complicated as the rest of me - good luck figuring me out! :P

Roy said...

If they didn't have our fingerprints, hair samples and DNA, shoe size, et cetera, all of those fill-in-the-blank CBS dramas would go bankrupt. Plus, something has to keep Orwell from rolling over.

By the way, Big Brother wants to know if you purposely missed the trash can with that discarded paper cup. Watch your back Caroline!

(and keep posting...love your stuff)