As smart phones and smart technologies increasingly become part of our everyday lives, it’s become incredibly difficult to live data-free or go a day without generating a signal data footprint on the technology cloud that now hovers above all of us.
Three of us at NBC Bay Area tried to go a single day avoiding all of the tracking associated with the smart devices that surround us at home, in the car and at work. We quickly learned that it was difficult, if not impossible, to go a whole day without giving up our privacy in some sort of way – something we were warned of in advance.
Technology consultant Rob Enderle said, “Without dramatically changing your life, without you know going out and living in the desert or in the middle of a forest, it’s really hard to [go completely data-free].”
First step, driving to work. So long as you don't use GPS to navigate, FasTrak to pay tolls, Pandora for music, podcasts or satellite radio for entertainment, you'd be on track for a data-free diet.
Getting to work, presents a whole new set of obstacles. Like many people employed in the Bay Area, our building requires key cards for entry – key cards that transmit data about your location. Gone are the days, for most folks, when a hard copy key will get you in. So if you want, you can risk it and hope you don’t get caught, and piggyback off someone else’s entrance.
That's just the start of the work-related data minefields we encounter. There’s no real workaround for logging onto computers, using e-mail and getting information from our desk phones – all involve leaving huge, traceable imprints. And, these standard office tools are just the beginning.
When it comes to the basic things we do with our smartphones – like texting, Facebook-ing, taking pictures, keeping lists, etc. – each send tons of data into the cloud.
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Back on planet earth, paying for lunch is even a problem. Using a credit card in an instance translates into a new data footprint making cash-in-wallet the only workaround.
The digital fingerprints extend far into our personal lives, too. Want watch a movie? Trips to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video aren’t an option anymore. They been swapped out for Netflix and rental kiosks, both require your email address, credit card and other personal information.
What would seem like an easy thing – a data-free day in 2014 – actually turned out to be a day without much communication, work, or the basic aspects of life we've become so accustomed to, like instant internet access and smartphones in our palm of our hands and all the data that courses through them.
