The Deletist

In recent weeks I’ve been reading articles about the capture of the “Golden State Killer.” The killer eluded the police for decades. He was finally identified after a detective uploaded the killer’s DNA onto a genealogy website to locate him through distant relations. This has raised some concerns.

Many people seem to be of the opinion that if the information was used for “good,” i.e., to capture a serial rapist/murdered, then what’s the harm. I even heard some people say they were okay with having their DNA used to help catch relatives (near or distant) that had committed crimes, whether they consented to their information being used that way or not.

On the other side information should only be used for the reason/purpose it was gathered initially, unless consent is granted. Therefore if information was uploaded on genealogy websites to find relatives, then that information shouldn’t be re-purposed for other uses without consent.

Last week I heard an interview on The Daily, (a New York Times news podcast) with the detective who worked on the case for over 20 years. According to him, he created an undercover account on the genealogy website, not a fake one. He argued that being “outed” by a relative’s uploaded DNA was the equivalent of a relative calling a hotline to report you.

While we might cheer at these new methods that removed one more dangerous criminal off the streets, it diminishes the value of our privacy and our right to protect/control personal information.

What happens when this kind of information isn’t used for “good”?  Or when we disagree about what “good” means. What if one day somebody in power decides to eradicate a specific gene from the human species and starts researching potential targets through DNA and genealogy websites. What if your voluntary DNA contributions help locate relatives that are carriers of this specific gene and they end up being targeted? Would you still think this was an appropriate use of your information? Likely not, but the point is you can’t always predict how/where your information is going to be used once it’s “out there.” Where’s the consent?

The detective made a good point that we need to have discussions about how/when these databanks of information can be accessed, by whom, and for what purpose. However, these discussions should happen before information is re-purposed, especially if it’s a gray area.

On a recent trip to New York City (NYC) I decided to take a cab from the subway to my friend’s place in Astoria Queens instead of walking, one chilly evening. The driver immediately knew the address, including which side of the street it would be on and how far down the block. He even knew which direction he was traveling in and could point out north, south, east, west. He knew all of this without consulting a map or technology once. I was impressed with his mastery of the streets and told him so.

He replied it was because he had knowledge. For the last 15 years he’d been driving a cab. His early years in the business had forced him to learn how to navigate the labyrinthine ways of Queens, without technology. In the beginning, he explained, he used to have all kinds of maps in his car. When someone gave him an address, he had to locate it on the map and then remember how to get there. Through doing this, he had developed expertise in getting around.

He compared himself to other cab drivers, and people in general, who can only get some where with GPS. They’re lacking knowledge, he said emphatically. They can’t orient themselves and navigate. They don’t know where they are because all they do is follow a dot following a line. They’re not aware of their location. 

I’m definitely “directionally-challenged” but I’ve always managed to learned a few tricks about the layout of every city I’ve lived in to help orient and navigate myself through unfamiliar neighborhoods. I use GPS when I need to, but try not to rely on it.

We’re inundated and overwhelmed with information, but somehow we don’t acquire the knowledge to learn anything. We can go around the world with the internet, but yet can’t manage to get around our neighborhood by the information inside our own heads.

Although I love having GPS and maps available, I still make an effort to learn how to get around by memorizing street names and observing landmarks. By identifying patterns and learning basic tips. By studying maps to orient myself and understand my location. It was refreshing for me to have a cab driver that felt the same way.

Every time I’ve had to hire a contractor, it’s always been done through word-of-mouth and referrals. For some reason, it’s not the kind of thing I search for online. When hiring a contractor for home repair, trust and good workmanship are essential. Maybe that’s why I always prefer to ask around. Or maybe it’s because that’s the best way to find the good ones, who are often too busy to set up more modern, digital forms of advertising.

I’ve noticed that the majority of contractors I know, or have learned about through referrals, rarely have an online presence. By online presence, I mean a website, or a company page on something like Facebook, LinkedIn or another form of social media. This makes it difficult to see photos of their work to assess the quality of the home repairs and to find online reviews. Though to be fair, I’ve never looked that hard because I mostly rely on the referrals. In my mind, the referral is one of the best reviews because most often the contractor has done work in that person’s house, making it a personal and intimate experience.

With some services, quotes and estimates can be attained through online services where the requestor simply fills in some details online to get some figures. With contracting work, however, quotes and estimates are done in person after a visit. I’ve tried to get ballpark estimates in advance, but most contractors I know insist on coming to visually assess the work themselves.

I suppose this is due to a combination of factors. Some contracting jobs are a lot more complicated than they seem to be from the perspective of the home owner, something that can only be assessed properly with a visual assessment. Contractors have a wealth of knowledge and experience about when a job may seem to be more complex than it first appears.

The work done by contractors is manual and tactile and it’s as though their processes are designed match. Invoices are done by hand, cobbled together in a disorganized fashion on a word document, hastily scribbled on an invoice pad, or simply itemized in the body of an email. A hold out to a fast-moving electronic environment where everything is readily available online in a digestible app form. But sometimes, you just need a plumber.