Monday, March 27, 2017

"The New Totalitarianism of Surveillance Technology"

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/15/new-totalitarianism-surveillance-technology

Hello friends,

This article delves into the discomforts of living in a surveillance state, or what seems to be a surveillance state on the rise. It turns out that many more people are being watched (and watched CLOSELY) than we thought. A new-ish technology that enables face recognition in public spaces without consent is being debated by the public--specifically in Disneyworld. This technology is so important and useful that even the military wants a hold of it.
Do you feel comfortable living in a state of surveillance if you don't know when you're being watched or by whom? Honestly, I know we've talked about it more than once in class. But is this something you're cool with? Also, does the concept of consent, or the lack thereof, bother you to any extent? It definitely does for me...but then again, who knows how long these technologies have actually been around...

-Julie

1 comment:

  1. I agree with most of your concerns regarding surveillance in today's society. However, this type of surveillance is not something new. Technically satellite surveillance has been around since the late 1950's, which started with Russia's spy satellite surveillance named Sputnik. Since then our government has developed advanced satellites that surveillance both military and civilians. I personally don't have an issue with surveillance in public places. I strongly believe that surveillance has done a great deal of service to the public by helping catch criminals and solving murders. To that end, I am fine with surveillance. I also feel as the world becomes more dense and over populated some form of enhanced surveillance will become all the more necessary to control the population in general. I do not however necessarily agree with how surveillance can be used to bribe and/or manipulate someone or an outcome. The movie on Snowden 2016 outlined those issues and was quite eye-opening on type of manipulation that goes on within our own government. Some of the negative qualities it possesses are rather concerning but that may also simply be the nature of technology in general. It can be used for good or evil. It solely depends on who is handling that form of technology and for what purpose. Transparency is key when it comes to surveillance and its use among those governing us for the sake of "our own good".

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