My profuse thanks to Bill for lending me The Traveller, it was an exciting and interesting read. The book involves people living 'off the grid', out of the clutches of the Vast Machine, the network of surveillance devices and databases that track what everyone is doing.

The privacy issue is important, but my reaction to it is opposite to that of John Twelve Hawks. Some time ago I read about someone who retaliated against CCTV cameras by filming the places that were filming him.

To put it another way, JTH is disturbed by the asymmetry between the watcher and the watched. He solves it by trying to avoid being watched. I too am concerned at this asymmetry, but I think it should be solved by me being able to watch the corporations and governments as closely as they watch me.