An apt adjective.
With so much written about issues of privacy and about how today's technological society makes keeping tabs on its citizens almost unavoidable, I find it strange that the term "databased society" shows up only a handful of times. The ideas of course, have been raised and examined often, both more accurately and more eloquently than I've done here (Simson Garfinel's Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century does perhaps the best job, though others are also worth reading). But for some reason very few people who've examined this topic have taken the verb of databasing and turned it into an adjective, even though, what with the based hinting that we're dealing with a society based on data, it has a very good ring to it. But most of the examples seem to suggest that even among the handful of people who have used the phrase, for most it's basically used only in passing. Of more than just passing interest are (to my mind):
Mitch Stone, who in his web site The Accidental Expert reports on his attempt to get a credit card for his cat. The cat didn't get a card, but another, similar experience gave him reason to reflect:
For a long while, I've found this to be one of the more curious features of our highly databased society. Once some computer somewhere latches onto a name and address, that person, real or fictional, is automatically drafted into the great consumer army -- an army that marches on its credit.
Ricardo Miranda, in the oft quoted The Work of Artists in a Databased Society suggests the possiblity of semi-guerrilla theater tactics against a society that identifies people more by the data stored on them than by the actual person. He relates a story from 1994:
A person (P) walks into a bank with the idea of securing a loan. According to the dramaturgical structure of this situation, the person is required to present h/erself as a responsible and trustworthy loan applicant. Being a good performer, and comfortable with this situation, P has costumed h/erself well by wearing clothing and jewelry that indicate economic comfort. P follows the application procedures well, and uses good blocking techniques with appropriate handshakes, standing and sitting as socially expected, and so on. In addition, P has prepared and memorized a well-written script that fully explains h/er need for the loan, as well as h/er ability to repay it. As careful as P is to conform to the codes of the situation, it quickly becomes apparent that h/er performance in itself is not sufficient to secure the loan. All that P has accomplished by the performance is to successfully convince the loan officer to interview h/er electronic double. The loan officer calls up h/er credit history on the computer. It is the body, a body data, that now controls the stage. It is, in fact, the only body which interests the loan officer. P’s electronic double reveals that s/he has been late on credit payments in the past and that s/he has been in a credit dispute with another bank. The loan is denied; end of performance.
But of course it's only a phrase. Any other catchy phrase would probably bring up as interesting, or perhaps even more interesting, examples.
Go to: I can't possibly be comprehensive here, or
Go to: They've got a little list.