Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Who is the Real Big Brother?
Birch, D. (2005, July 14). The Age of Sousveillance. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from The Guardian.
Birch refers to the book 1984 term Big Brother to today's developing technology being used by the government as surveillance. He feels that there is no need to worry about government becoming Big Brother and taking over our privacy with new technology. Birch feels that we as people and society will become the real Big Brothers using technology to invade on each other's privacy. He relates it to someone using their camera phone to take pictures of a private business meeting and sending it to a competitor.
Unless you have read the book 1984 or have some familiarity with it than you would not be able to fully understand this article. Constantly people see movies such as IRobot and the new movie Eagle Eye, where government builds these machines and greater technology that is suppose to help us and make life easier. Except the machines take this concept too far and end up watching and controlling our every move so that we are living in the most humanly efficient way which to us is taking over all our privacy and ability to make decisions for ourselves.
Birch is saying that if this centralization was to really happen it would have happened already because we are beyond the point of technological advancement that George Orwell was referring to in 1984. Birch believes the real threat lies in our own communities. I believe that it is true that people do invade on each other's privacy but only by a limited basis. One person can only invade on so many people's privacy. Personally I still believe government has more power and opportunity to surveillance people's on a mass scale. Technology is improving and becoming crazier with the things that people are allowed to do, who knows what will be next and who it will benefit.
Birch refers to the book 1984 term Big Brother to today's developing technology being used by the government as surveillance. He feels that there is no need to worry about government becoming Big Brother and taking over our privacy with new technology. Birch feels that we as people and society will become the real Big Brothers using technology to invade on each other's privacy. He relates it to someone using their camera phone to take pictures of a private business meeting and sending it to a competitor.
"In a world of matchbox-sized MPeg4 camcorders and cameraphones, of always-on broadband and RFID, your next-door neighbours will be the nemesis of privacy."
"Thus it is interesting to note the police appeal for photos, video and cameraphone media in the wake of the terrorist outrage. It could be these, rather than CCTV, that contain the key clue to the identity of the bombers: confirmation that Big Brother is us, not them."
Unless you have read the book 1984 or have some familiarity with it than you would not be able to fully understand this article. Constantly people see movies such as IRobot and the new movie Eagle Eye, where government builds these machines and greater technology that is suppose to help us and make life easier. Except the machines take this concept too far and end up watching and controlling our every move so that we are living in the most humanly efficient way which to us is taking over all our privacy and ability to make decisions for ourselves.
Birch is saying that if this centralization was to really happen it would have happened already because we are beyond the point of technological advancement that George Orwell was referring to in 1984. Birch believes the real threat lies in our own communities. I believe that it is true that people do invade on each other's privacy but only by a limited basis. One person can only invade on so many people's privacy. Personally I still believe government has more power and opportunity to surveillance people's on a mass scale. Technology is improving and becoming crazier with the things that people are allowed to do, who knows what will be next and who it will benefit.
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I agree with Birch. People are probably going to spy on other people more then the government will. sounds kind of creepy though.
Sousveillance is a more immediate threat for most people in this country. The frightening thing is that nations that spy on their own citizens will also make use of the population to keep tabs on each other. In communist societies there were often thousands of informers keeping tabs on dissidents. Imagine all of those informers equipped with the latest digital gadgets for recording images and sound. Send that cell phone video to the secret police . . .
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