Talking in Public

You can hide a tiny wireless mic like this one anywhere. Photo source: eBay

I have already mentioned that it isn’t safe to talk in public places. The din doesn’t provide the privacy you would expect. But this week, I heard two other distressing stories that pierce the veil when it comes to expectations of privacy in public places.

• A waiter we met this weekend was dressed down for a quiet exchange between himself, his mother, and his betrothed. When he asked his manager if it had bothered one of the other customers enough to tell on him, his manager told him that they bugged all the tables with mics and web cams.
• Another friend told Suna and me of a time when she went out to eat with some other friends. Because they were a little older, their waitress was condescending. She spoke to them as if they were already senile. They tipped well out of pity, thinking she probably wouldn’t get much in the way of tips with that attitude. The next time they went to this restaurant, the manager collected their payment and said, “I hope your experience here was much more pleasant than last time.” Mind you, they hadn’t complained about the previous waitress.

The second of these stories shows a benign reason why a restaurant might spy on its customers. That manager seemed to genuinely hope for a better customer experience. And while the same might hold true for the first restaurant, a more sinister motivation is equally as likely. This is a capitol city, full of politicians and lobbyists. What kind of influence can be garnered by taping a “private conversation,” especially one that lapses into topics that some might not want to become public?

Since neither of these restaurants warned their customers of their eavesdropping, I suggest you start asking the managers before you are seated if your table is bugged. One friend has started carrying noise generators to prevent such eavesdropping. I hope the noise is painful to those wearing headphones.

The surveillance state is here.

Talking in Public

I don’t know what this picture is, but it illustrate this topic nicely.

Source: Dave Pollard’s blog on Conversation

In silence listening, like a devout child,

My soul lay passive, by thy various strain

Driven as in surges now beneath the stars,

With momentary stars of my own birth,

Fair constellated foam, still darting off

Into the darkness…

—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1807)

It’s cold today, so I was taking my afternoon walk around the inside of the building. In the security-hyperconscious time, people continue the ancient the ancient tradition of conducting private business in public places. OK, so the company cafeteria is not as public as a Damascus café, but still!

I wandered over to the Pepsi machine, thereby more than undoing any health benefits from the walk. I was amazed by how much people relied on the din to cover their conversations—even though they had to raise their voices to be heard over the ambient roar. In those few minutes, I could have gathered juicy intelligence on business practices, marketing strategies, and technical specifics.

But that’s not the frightening thing. As the machine dispensed my carbonated high-fructose corn syrup, I realized how many of these conversations happen in restaurants and taverns all over town. It’s like hiding but not encrypting a wireless signal: “Obscurity is not security,” as the Internet security pundits say.

Good thing I don’t take notes.

Grateful Monday

I am glad that my current boss doesn’t treat me like my former management treated contractors. While I don’t feel like “part of the team,” I really don’t want to. I am treated like a professional, and I try to act like one. I try to deliver more than they expect, but I don’t take ownership of the problems their rush to completion creates. It’s almost my dream job, just without security or insurance.

But someone once said, “You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”