Technology, the advancements we have made as a society to set ourselves apart from our genetic ancestors, may ultimately be our downfall. I'd argue that technology is neutral, but sometimes I have to take the realistic approach. There have always been people seeking to control others, dictators, kings, and the like. Democracy was supposed to end that, but the wolves have found sheep's clothing. Since September 11, 2001 there has been a trade of freedom for security. It makes since, we were scared and were looking for protection. The Patriot Act was born out of this fear, and I wish we had the foresight to see the storm it would bring.
How do you monitor a village? A few guards can do that. How do you monitor a town? A few police stations can do that. How do you monitor 7.139 billion people? Well, you're going to need a few more people. And cameras. And phone taps. And email monitoring. And cameras. And databases designed to gather information on individuals, linking data to create profiles of real people in order to determine what they are thinking before they act or before they can even have the thought. We call that PRISM. We call that creative marketing. We call that the 21st century.
Let this work of fiction explain how it works…
Of course we could always just use this technology for security only. Never judge those who behave differently than we would like but do not cause harm to others. I guess the real question is, how much trust do you have in your fellow man?
I think your blog brings up a good point. Surveillance on the average American citizen is a scary thought. I know it is for my own protection but if big corporations are proving this information to the government, I am not sure who else they would provide it to for the right price. That type of information in the wrong hands can be catastrophic.
ReplyDeleteThe examples you mentioned on abuses of surveillance systems reminded me of a novel called Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (which I did not use in my blog). It draws a direct parallel to the post 9/11 effects of the Patriot Act as well, when Marcus, a seventeen-year-old boy and his three friends are wrongly arrested after a terrorist attack on San Francisco. They are harshly interrogated by the Department of Homeland Security for days, before finally being released, only to find out that their city has become a police state. Everyone is being tracked on their credit cards, subway passes, and even their purchases; the internet is always traced and people are all living in fear. The movie Watch Dogs seems similar to this scenario, but on a whole other level. Although I think that some degree of surveillance technology does improve our safety (such as in the airport), I'm also concerned by the question -- at what point does the use of technology for security become a violation of privacy?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately there is no black and white to this issue, only a scale with freedom on one end and safety on the other. Not everyone agrees where that should be, and I don't there ever will be an agreement on where the line should be drawn.
DeleteAnd I did read that book. It had great examples of the possibilities of surveillance.