Is Privacy Meaningless?

The piece I wrote for The Spectator's Arts and Culture blog spoke about this. The iPhone goes even further. Apple has plans to take photos of you without your knowledge, and to spy on your heartbeat. Seriously. (Since breaking this news the original source of it has gone down. Shenanigans?) 


How much does privacy matter to you? Does it matter at all any more? More to the point, as writers, does this liberate us? The big, historical, fear about writing is surely the exposure of the self. If your iPhone and Google are already taking care of that for you, there's no longer anything to worry about. Google and Apple have your soul. 


Mind you, that Hawkings chap is trying his best to convince you that you never had one of those to begin with. I retract my earlier tweet that, since his argument against any divine force hinges on one not being 'necessary' he is also questioning the existence of kittens or iPhones. Obviously, that was a fib. One of the newest patents Steve Jobs has applied for ensures that anyone questioning the existence - or necessity - of an iPhone will be tracked down by the nearest iPhone and fried. Obviously, that is a fib. Oh, and ... since this Google owns Blogger, and YouTube, and this is a Blogger blog that contains YouTube vids ... um ... GOOGLE RULES!!!!