Am I Paranoid? by Rachel Sanfordlyn Shreckengast

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I happen to live in a small town. As everyone knows, small towns are known as places where "everyone knows everyone and everyone knows everyone's business". Perhaps, it's because I was born and grew up in larger cities, but I must admit that I find this unsettling at times.

For example, I have a neighbor (a lovely older lady that I visit and chat with on occasion) who informs me every time my office light is on in the middle of the night. Intellectually, I know that it's merely because she feels less alone when someone else is up while she's taking her medications, but emotionally...the idea that someone is noticing such a thing always shocks me. Of course, it’s not the only thing that gets noticed in my neighborhood. A few days ago, a different neighbor asked my husband if we knew that we already had tomatoes growing on the tomato plants. Nope. We had no clue. Actually, we hadn’t been in the yard for a few days because our schedule got busy.

One entire family is sitting on their porch nearly every time I walk out my door. I’m sure they are lovely people, but it’s disconcerting to know that they know every time we leave our house. It’s also strange to think that they know every time we have friends over, every time we run to the supermarket or every time we go yard-saleing. I think this is the one that disturbs me the most. I mean how creepy is it for someone you don't know to know your schedule? Let’s not forget the times we leave a light on all night. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the garage (separate from the house), the porch or in the house. Either way, we often get asked if we know that our lights were on all night. In most cases, it isn’t a matter of forgetting to turn out the lights. I’m just working late. Again, it’s a bit unsettling that anyone even notices such a thing. If we let our grass grow a little longer than normal, it gets noticed. If we get a pool or sprinkler for the kids, it’s noticed. If we plant a new plant in our yard, it’s noticed. And so on.

Lest I forget to mention, if an emergency occurs in any of the houses in the neighborhood you always find out within a few days exactly what happened. You also find out the entire history of why it happened and how it came about. Does all this mean I hate my neighbors or am wary of them. No way, I actually have great neighbors. The old-fashioned kind that brings you cooked goods when you first move in. The kind that actually likes your kids and takes grandmotherly or grandfatherly interest in them. The kind of neighbors that most people love to live near. If I have to have neighbors, I’d choose a neighborhood like the one I live in. I’m very fond of most of my neighbors, it’s just that I’m a very private person.

As a result, I don’t stick to a routine. I don’t do things on a set schedule and I don’t share aspects of my life that I feel are private. My house, garage and car are always locked (which isn’t always common in small towns). However, there are times when that doesn’t seem to be enough. Privacy issues go well beyond my neighborhood. When I’m on the computer, websites put cookies on my machine to track who I am, where I’m coming from and which website I just visited. When I go to the supermarket, they track my purchases through store cards and call me "Mrs. Shreckengast" (even though I prefer Ms. Shreckengast, thank you). Companies profile my buying habits and my credit reports are consulted whenever I want to do something like apply for a credit card with a lower interest rate. It’s all far too personal.

Of course, these aren’t the only things that make me paranoid. There are certainly bigger privacy issues to be worried over. For example, in some states, they are instituting cameras that catch you whenever you run a red light. Since I never run red lights (and stop for yellow), I shouldn’t have a problem with this. Despite that, the issue makes me wonder and bring up "what-if" situations. What if someone else is driving my car? What if my car gets stolen and someone else runs a red light with it? What if the camera has a glitch and was supposed to catch the person in front of or behind me?

Then, there are the issues concerning what people may want to find out about me. I ask you, why would anyone care about my past sexual history (this one shocked the you-know-what out of me!), my shopping preferences or habits, my credit if the issue is not related to credit, whether my kids happened to eat a cake or other item containing poppy seeds and got a positive drug test as a result or many other things that affect my privacy, my freedoms, my children and how I raise them (see also: here, here and here) , my job, how I perform my job and/or the very act of walking out of my front door.

Of course, not all of the above issues affect me personally. In many cases, they effect people I know or have friendships with. In some cases, they affect people I don’t know but have empathy for. Privacy issues affect everyone. I fully understand how some of these intrusions of my privacy may be necessary. For example, I think it’s great that sex offenders are on a registry (though even that has its problems). To be perfectly honest though...a lot of it creeps me out. I mean, it really creeps me out. It makes me want to live on a couple acres in the middle of the woods where I at least know that surveillance cameras aren’t pointed at me every time I walk out the door.

Then again, living apart from society doesn’t exactly insure privacy. If I happen to use a cell phone, get into a car that uses GPS (global positioning system), take a job that involves driving, happen to have a different race, religion or political affiliation than someone else, if I happen to give my phone number to a company or if I happen to go shopping - if I happen to do any of these things (and much more) I really don‘t have much privacy as a result.

All of these issues bring up one glaring question. Am I paranoid? I have to admit that I probably am. Unfortunately, I have very valid reasons for being paranoid. This article barely scratches the surface of privacy issues. For example, some of the things I didn’t mention (or hardly mentioned) above include; airline safety measures, national identity cards, policing via video cameras, personal location tracking, information hackers, issues with wireless network security, digital databases, spying devices, biochip implants, etc. In fact, there are so many ways that people, government , retail and financial sources can invade your privacy that it would be absolutely impossible for me to include everything in one article.

Despite being paranoid about such issues, I must confess that I have no answers or solutions to these issues. I wish I did. I truly wish it were as simple as telling people "Hey, I like my privacy. Back off please.". Or as simple as getting a nice little place in the country where people don’t notice that your lights are on all night. Unfortunately, the issue isn’t simple and it’s difficult to protect your privacy in a world that becomes increasingly aware of everything that you do.

Which reminds me, a friend of mine suggests that I read George Orwell’s 1984. Believe it or not, I’ve never read it. This particular friend (as well as other friends) share the same privacy concerns as I do and many of them highly recommend the book because it discusses privacy issues. The book sounds interesting, but I’m half afraid to read it. After all, do I really need to get any more paranoid than I already am?

More Interesting Articles on Privacy Issues

ACLU - Official homepage for the American Civil Liberties Union.

EPIC - Website for the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

If you think it's none of my business, please call - Erik Lacitis wants to find that one American who has managed to keep their life private.

Privacy.org - Website which discusses privacy news, privacy information and privacy action.

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse - An excellent website that discusses privacy issues and ways to safeguard your personal privacy.

Someone to watch over me and you - Danny Meadows-Klue discusses recent threats to our basic privacy.

Sounding off: Privacy vs. free speech - Both sides of the issue are represented in this article that discusses public records.

Best Wishes,
Rachel Sanfordlyn Shreckengast
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