recalls.gov

[Faust]

http://www.recalls.gov/index.html

Anyone notice anything odd here? Like:

The government keeps track of all recalls of all products, which means they could know who is buying what in amarica.

They want you to download a droid phone app, so you can "access" the government whenever you're even thinking about buying anything.

"six federal agencies with vastly different jurisdictions have joined together to create www.recalls.gov -- a "one stop shop" for U.S. Government recalls." - when has that ever happened - six federal agencies working together? Can anyone say "Homeland Security"?

"Whether you’re at your child’s day care center or a yard sale, whether you’re at a store or at home, you can now type a product’s name into your phone and learn immediately whether that product has been recalled because of a safety concern. "Why do they want to know where your child goes for daycare? It's common knowledge that the government can track your movements via your cell phone.

Do they have to know what you're thinking about, as well?

I think so.......

[Ichthus]

You sound paranoid.

--Captain Obvious

[Flannel Jesus]

I'm all for government paranoia, but I think you're overlooking the existing, definite utility of such an app in favor of the indefinite, unproven dangers of it. Also, such theories betray a sort of vanity, narcissism, if you will -- you think the government really gives a shit about you that much? Unless you're regularly buying all of the required materials necessary to make homemade bombs in bulk, I really doubt they have the funds or manpower to track what you buy.

[Faust]

And that's exactly what they want you to think.

[Faust]

FJ, if you look a little more closely, you'll see that these federal agencies are involved - and these are just those agencies they'll tell us about:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
The US Coast Guard
The US Food Safety and Inspection Service
The FDA
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Department of Health and Human Services
The EPA

Not much manpower there.

Did you know that the FDA, to name just one on this list, is an international organization?

FDA.png (44.34 KiB) Viewed 364 times

[Flannel Jesus]

Faust, the snide "not much man power there" response tells me that you don't understand the manpower it would take to actually look through the purchasing records of everyone. Take all of those groups you listed, estimate how many people in those groups would potentially be allocated to looking at the purchasing habits of random people (max a couple thousand, and that's probably a super-high estimate), and compare that to the amount of people being allegedly surveyed -- it just WOULDN'T WORK!

They might, like I said, possibly have a computer program that searches through individuals' purchasing habits for explicitly dangerous sets of items -- a program that might throw up a red light when someone buys all the items required to make a home made bomb or something like that -- but apart from that, you're just being vain. They don't have the manpower to dig through each person's shit and figure out exactly how to characterize each persons' psychology or whatever. There's not enough people, not in ALL OF THOSE ORGANIZATIONS COMBINED, to do that, and it wouldn't be even remotely cost-effective to do that anyway. The government might be inefficient, but they're not that inefficient.

[Faust]

Oh, so basically what you are saying is that there are several thousand people, working for the government, in a co-ordinated effort, aided by super-powerful government computers, who monitor every 'dangerous' purchase we make. The question is - dangerous to who?

Don't you see how you have begged the question? "The government is watching us to watch out for us, because watching out for us is just what they do."

Unless it isn't.

[Flannel Jesus]

Well, when you disappear off the face of the planet, try your darndest to get on the internet and tell us what magazine not to buy so as to avoid your fate.

[Only_Humean]

Do they have to know what you're thinking about, as well?

I think so.......

I work in automotive safety (when I'm not busy running the world as part of a sinister shadowy cabal, of course), and this looks... really very middle management. Some people get a budget and a note on their yearly appraisal that so-and-so wants to see a more pro-active way of democratising our resources blah blah utilising the power of blah blah dissemination of the department's objectives and achievements blah blah. I'm just surprised nobody thought to link it all in with a Facebook 'like' button and a tumblr reblog. There are full-grown men in suits who talk like this and care deeply that you know what it is they do all day.

The information's already out there, if the government have a database on you they probably have much more relevant information than your interest in 2005 Chrysler airbags. I think this is more a symptom of bureaucratic management and trying to find something useful to do with the vast amounts of data that bureacratic managers insist on creating and collating.

[Faust]

Yeah, I know. I was just trying to start my own conspiracy theory. But my heart just isn't in it.

[Only_Humean]

Yeah, I know. I was just trying to start my own conspiracy theory. But my heart just isn't in it.

That'll be the fluoridated water, sapping your natural essences.

[brevel_monkey]

That'll be the fluoridated water, sapping your natural essences.

"six federal agencies with vastly different jurisdictions have joined together to create www.recalls.gov -- a "one stop shop" for U.S. Government recalls."

By the looks of it, these organizations were already responsible for product inspections in their field. E.g. (from the site "The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) investigates consumer complaints about recreational boats and related equipment.")

Overall, the idea of checking every single product you buy to see if it has been recalled seems very American: it is a clear over-reaction to a few press stories products which involves a significant change to the way you live (checking everything you're about to buy), and is all based on a miniscule probability of something going wrong. It'll probably catch on pretty fast.

[tentative]

I'm more concerned about corporations who scour my personal googles and then flood the pop-ups with ads related to anything I might have looked at. I'm sure that the goal is to suck up every last dime I have buying whatever instant gratification whizbang they throw at me. Collecting the data off of your GPS enabled phone tells them where you are, what stores, you're in, what time of day you shop, etc. They sell that info to individual businesses while pimping all that consumer frivolous crap to you. Money from both ends... The conspiracy is to lick the lollipop on both sides so that it doesn't make any difference what we do as long as your bank balance is zero...

[brevel_monkey]

Collecting the data off of your GPS enabled phone tells them where you are,

They'd struggle to do that with my phone. There's a reason I only paid $15 for it

Seriously, you should use Tor online and don't use facebook or android, and turn tracking off in the google settings, if you're worried.