New New York

I just spent a few days in New York City on business. Was completely amazed at the even more than usual abundance of ads, more ads, and (yes) even more ads. With the Holidays fast approaching, seemingly every available space is taken over by an ad.

Adding to all of this advertising pollution is the blatant disregard for those long forgotten old friends --- white space, peace & quiet. Yes, there is Central Park --- surrounded by ads on all sides.

Times Square is (literally) the LOUDEST PLACE ON EARTH (visually speaking) and that prime real estate is some of the costliest advertising space available on Earth, They have even blocked off the street and made chairs available in Times Square where you can have a seat and take it all in.

Privacy Pirates

The New York Times has just reported that Informtaion Technology folks had no problem reconstructing exact social security numbers for eight percent of the U.S. population born between 1989 and 2003 by starting their calculation with birthdates and the city and state of birth. This involved five million reconstructed social security numbers.