Sometimes we take things for granted. I know I do.

Today I woke up and opened up one of my most frequented sites for K-pop news only to find that it had blocked me from posting comments. I was stunned, of course. What had I done? Why did it block me?

I refreshed repeatedly, but I got the same yellow box saying: “This site has blocked you from posting new comments.” I decided it might have been my wonky internet connection, and left for school. When I came back and tried again, I realised I had to stop deluding myself. I was blocked.

I’m not bashing on the site, but this incident has woken me (once again) to the fact that we are users, not owners. Facebook, Twitter, for example – pretty much all and any other form of social media and websites out there, we use them. If they should decide on a random whim to block us, who are we to stop them?

I searched for a Contact page, to find someone and tell them that this must have been a mistake. What was the reason for blocking me?

‘Course, I could always create another account to post comments if the need to do so was so important, but it’s not that. I don’t know. I feel… frustrated. Unhappy. Trapped from expressing what I want to say. And I don’t like that feeling, that I’ve been bound.

That’s probably why I notice the surveillance cameras that seem to have appeared like magic at what seems like every corner of the MRT station. I once counted the number of cameras at the one near my block. I think I got to about fifty.

I’m pretty sure that if questioned, the authorities would provide answers like “preventing terrorism” and “neighbourhood watch” or something along the lines of protecting us and keeping the country safe. But what worries me is that if, just if, one day… all these advanced technology is turned against us.

Can you imagine being watched everywhere you go? When you leave for work (or school) and return? When you head over to the supermart for groceries? When you withdraw from the ATMs?

Of course this could just be the delusions of a paranoid conspiracy theorist. At times, I wonder if I’m not right in the head. But the authority is made up of multiple human beings. Time passes. People change. Upright individuals do not live forever.

We will all die one day.

And human beings can succumb to greed and fear. How can we ensure that these tools for our good will not be used by those in power against us? How can we make sure that what was intended for good… stays that way?

You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. You don’t.