Rise of the Gargoyles....Gargoyle Glass, that is.

The Product...Is You.

Reminiscent of Niel Stephenson's Gargoyles, from his 1992 novel Snow Crash (rumored to be the inspiration for Google Earth, Quake, Second Life,and other tech projects) , more and more people are roaming the streets wired for surveillance. From smart phones to the newly launched Google Glass, we are increasingly entangled in an ever tightening net of surveillance tools. Ostensibly, these tools function at our disposal, but with the ever present threats of malware, onerously permissive application access requirements, and a free pass for government agencies, can the average user really be sure that his device is not spooling off to some state or corporate datacenter at any given moment?

Show me someone who lives in a glass house with no curtains and an always on PA system, and I will show you someone who perhaps, actually, has nothing to hide.

With the exception of the significant convenience to users of always online communication and sophisticated photo, audio, and video recording capabilities, the average user, far from reaping the benefits of their participation in the new surveillance society, is forced into the role of unknowing agent for big surveillance.

We are told that our data is private, that we shouldn't be worried about it if we have nothing to hide, and that we are paranoid. Meanwhile, Path text messages all of our contacts at 6 AM, our private photos get sent to some other users Google plus account, our data is sold between businesses without our knowledge  and governments and any capable hackers get a free pass into our innermost thoughts and private moments. 

As it stands, big data, uncle Touch Me TSA, and whoever manages to pry your device open for their own malicious intent are the primary beneficiaries of the new surveillance society, but must it be so?

Shouldn't we have a marketplace where we can sell our relevant surveillance to the highest bidder?

With such pervasive sensing and recording technology, why should we, the users, the mules, be relegated to giving it all away for free?

I see a new golden age of casual espionage, where all accidentally or intentionally captured data can be searched, indexed, categorized, bought, sold, and requested, over global, secure, anonymous protocols...If we are to have no privacy, at least lets get paid!