Page 8 of Nearly Roadkill: Queer Love on the Run

To: Editor, They/Them magazine

From: D.I. Drew

Subject: Old tech, new tech

Hi Asa,

I rumbled through a ton of sources for this installment, most of them private and anonymous. I have to rant: It’s just so unsettling how folks back then worried about exactly what is plaguing us now. No privacy, government interference, corporate interference, etc.

Cheers,

Drew

TOOBE ENTRY

I just found a Chinese wall, a bathroom stall, a place everybody writes random stuff in no particular order: an electronic graffiti board.

I grab anything new that’s popped onto the Net.

It’s completely disorganized when it comes in, then I arrange it like a collage.

Some of the postings are like a bulletin board, some more urgent, like the walls in a ghetto where you can see lines being drawn, rage or sorrow vented.

FUNNY OF THE DAY

Where are the baby pigeons? Has anyone *ever* seen one? No! You just see grown-up ones…

—P.

That’s all there was today. I didn’t say they were real deep or anything. Although it’s true, I’ve never seen a baby pigeon.

I’m not sure I’ve mentioned Jabba before.

Jabba is a genius, and although I always thought ze was a guy, hanging around with S consumers complain that they can’t buy the brands they want because they can’t find them; indeed, the choices are too many to justify the exhaustive hunt-and-peck a simple “shopping trip” has become.

Although the government’s Registration plan will ultimately make the process smoother, at present there are several million more users of a highly sophisticated information system with no clear way to navigate.

Veteran users are skeptical that an interface can be created to accommodate the average computer user, but plans move forward to organize.

Add to this mix the goals of Internet Intelligence, and the need to organize the system becomes crucial.

“The criminal element has made inroads into most of the major electronic bulletin boards,” says Federal Bureau of Census and Statistics Undersecretary Margaret LaBouchere.

“They are distributing illegal information, false advertising campaigns, and worst of all, porn, all over the Internet system.” Once everyone is Registered, says LaBouchere, only criminals will be unregistered.

It will be virtually impossible to conduct illegal activity, “because all the users can be traced back to their Registration numbers.”

While it is doubtful all criminals will be forced offline, the effort so far is working and has met no real resistance.

New Registrants agree their Net sessions are easier to manage.

As consumers indicate their preferences, they are saved into a profile, so an algorithm based on the user’s demographics (age, sex, income, location, etc.) can find and offer points of interest.

What’s more, buying and browsing preferences are noted so that the range of services offered to them will grow narrower, thereby thinning out the traffic on the Internet.

Matching the consumer with his or her interest will become a quick and easy process for the new, streamlined, and technically savvy marketing departments of the private sector, with little interaction needed by the consumer at all, says ACI.

Users will simply point and click to their interest icon, and the information will appear.