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SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | MAY 2023 9 By Clare Mendez, Resident Do you remember when we went to the drive-in theaters just to learn that images of popcorn and candy were subconsciously cut into the film to incise us to go into the concession stand? I'm sure that is still happening on television and the movies, but who cares about such trivial advertisement stunts? Nearly everyone is being spied on in some way in America these days. A combination of technological advances, employer's paranoia and commercial advance means that many millions of Americans are having their lives delved into in ways that would have been impossible, not to say unthinkable, a dozen years ago. Households can be spied on through our indoor security cameras and laptop computers. When you register to vote you are handing over your private information. What about the new licenses? Just one swipe and you can pass through airport security because your personal info (and who knows what) is being recorded. Information brokers and private investigators can get your address, date of birth, court records, driving records, credit history, your annual income, your buying habits, drug prescriptions, and that's just the beginning. The TikTok app is known to spy on us through our cell phone information, and China is spying on us overhead from balloons. What can we do? Technology takes us into the future and without it we might as well still be using checks to pay our bills, or not own a cell phone. Not everyone is a spying on us for nefarious reasons. There are people, very smart people, who are using their knowledge and technology for the purpose of making the earth and our galaxy a safe and healthy place to live. There's nothing much you can do about information that's already out there but there is stuff you can do to keep yourself as safe as possible. 1. Change your alpha numeric passwords often and don't use similar passwords for multiple accounts. 2. Install top security antivirus software and endpoint protection. 3. Always ensure you have a backup of your work and confidential files. 4. Set alerts on all your banking statements for unusual spending. Same thing for credit cards, and monitor your credit reports. 5. Watch for spam calls and don't give out any information to people you don't know. All this spying brings to mind the TV episodes where the people are wearing aluminum foil tin caps to scramble the sound waves, the gamma rays, or whatever is being used to brainwash us. When you walk into their living room you think, "what a wack-o" and they look back at you without a foil cap on and they think you're the "wack-o." I SPY

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