Who's there?

Welcome to this week's Reno News & Review.

OK, let me say right up front, I'm not crazy. And you know who says things like that? Crazy people.

Back in April, my friend installed a home security system. Cameras actually. Well, I got a little FOMO (fear of missing out), so I bought myself one. It's a Q-See system from Costco, and it cost me a couple of hundred bucks. This weekend, instead of mowing the lawn when I wasn't doing homework, I completed the installation. Everything that happens on the property outside my house is now on camera. On the one hand, it's pretty cool.

But it's the other hand that makes me question my sanity. I've been reporting about creeping government fascism since long before Edward Snowden made his revelations. Here's where I wrote in 2002—www.newsreview.com/reno/conspiracy-theory/content?oid=18628—about the program that became the Prism program that Snowden shared.

So as I watched the very concept of personal privacy erode, I got concerned. As I learned about extraordinary rendition and murder by drone, I got a little freaked. As I heard about case after case of illegal government spying getting a pass from the American people, I became more resigned. Privacy is gone. The government can and does make a record of every telephone conversation you have, or email or letter you send or receive. If you don't believe we're living in a dystopian society, like in the storybooks, then you're simply not paying attention.

Now I can watch my house remotely over my cell phone and see when the UPS guy leaves T-shirts or electronics on my front porch. I can see his face. I can watch the dogs in the backyard.

If I'm not crazy, sometimes the world seems that way. Maybe that means this is a rational reaction to the situation.

But if I can look to see what's going on at my house from here, what's to stop Uncle Sam from watching the same movie? Exactly nothing. Will he? I have no reason to believe he won't, but then, I've got nothing to hide.