The more you read the news the more you realise that the news is reading you.
Not only do we have the issue that our own government is arrogant enough to gather all of our personal information in a central database that they claim can be made hack proof. Nothing is that secure, if it exists someone will find a way to break into it - end of. We've got ID cards and computer chipped passports. How invasive will it get, condoms with secret cameras?
Unfortunately we ourselves aren't that bright either. With the explosion of the blogosphere (yes i am aware of the irony here) and social networks we are creating a digital Big Brother. Facebook and Twitter, the social networking sites of the internet and mobile-scape are platforms on which anyone and everyone can communicate and share vast amounts of private data. Information is the most lucrative market of the 21st Century. Character profiles are sold to the highest bidder and the profession of data collector is an ever-expanding field.
In addition we have the regular passing of acts which allow police and parliament to detain terror suspects without any evidence but on suspicion alone. This law was under debate in the House of Commons to be extended to a length of 42 days. After 42 days of interrogation and potential torture people will admit to anything to bring an end to the ordeal. The public must not become complacent on these matters. Civil liberties are in jeopardy, basic freedom is highly threatened.
We've moved from an industrial society to an information society, the problem is that the digital model is a lot more vulnerable to manipulation and vandalism than the physical. But there's no point getting paranoid now, the information on you is already out there and there's very little we the poor lowly public can do to retrieve it. What you want to be asking yourself is this; how hard is it to disappear?
3 comments:
why "dissappear" when you can generate the same illusiveness by creating multiple online identities?
Your writing is always so negative and suspisious! Dont you feel good that the government is so ill equpit to control or deal with information, and we are therefore left to do as we please online?
Its true, i was thinking this last night while trying to write my diss' i do get a very foreboding feel from our developments in technology. Perhaps i dont feel i have the skills to be the master of these advancements, perhaps i simply feel that there is no way for us to be in control of our information society.
However i agree on the fact that it is quite possible to use the nature of tech and the fact that the government haven't yet grasped it, for our own gain. maybe ill do more of this and try to see the good in the ominous machine!
Both of you should watch "The lives of others" yes I agree the title sounds shit but the film is really good, especially if you have just been to Berlin. It is about the Stasi spying and monitoring the cultural scene of East Berlin around 1984. After watching that I do feel that at least I FEEL that I have freedom, whether I really have or not is a diferent story.
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