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> | Prublic (second draft) | | | | |
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< | -- By CarolineVisentini - 28 Feb 2015 | >
> | -- CarolineVisentini - 26 Apr 2015 | | | | |
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< | The idea of privacy abuse might have bolstered with the World War I. For sure, it evolved fast enough to be a remarkable part of World War II and for the years that followed it even though “atomic bomb” and “man on the moon” were trending topics on the media. Spooks were already in the backstage. All these facts should have brought society to think and reflect about itself, its values and protections, as well as to question the status quo – but the society just questioned it and nothing more was done but to seat back and watch our privacy to become public – a different public, definitely. | >
> | Private + public = Prublic. I think that it is where our society is situated today. Over the course of the 20th century (maybe starting with spooks in the World Wars) we lost the opportunity to organize and protect ourselves to give a response to the surveillance and data obsession conducted both by Governments and now by companies. Our privacy has become a public asset. The way forward might be lost if we do not react fast enough. | | | | |
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I think this means that "privacy" decayed over the course of the 20th century, largely without public or organized response, although I'm not sure why it wasn't said simply, in a sentence, rather than archly, in a paragraph.
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> | From the time when civilization gathered in cities things have been changing fast: more data and information was generated and shared. Cities have been changing human behavior mainly in the last 500 years, in the Western Hemisphere. When tribes became towns and then cities and countries, humans were able to gather knowledge and information from each other and accelerate the social development – people were not more isolated in the countryside or in tribes. | | | | |
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From the time when civilization gathered in cities things have been changing fast.
Meaning, over the last five thousand years, with equal fast-ness? Or less fast for the first 4,500 years, and then in some cities rather faster for the last 500? Or something else?
When tribes became towns and then cities and countries, humans were able to gather intelligence and information from each other and accelerate the brain development.
Sounds to me mostly like a summary of me, details aside. I don't think one could show any significant anatomical or physiological change in the human brain in the last 5,000 years. That's slow for natural selection.
The advent of intelligence started to gradually diminish the power of the physically stronger. The ones able to merge physical and mental capabilities, information and politics were way ahead in the odds of winning. And that became more factual as years went by: the interest on data and information grew exponentially due to its power to control people and generate financial or political value for States.
I don't think this is tenable history. The advent of intelligence over what time-span? Is this a story about cultural rather than biological evolution, about learning rather than intelligence? In which historic era did the advent of learning reduce the importance of physical strength and to whom?
It was a simple leapfrog from that intelligence related war edge to a civilian data obsession. Quick and easy, the “acquired” enemy information helped States to win wars, civilian information and data would have the same value, the powerful people or corporations were even more interested in influence and money. Technology was advancing each day more. Once that became reality, no privacy could be expected anymore.
I don't see the coherence of these ideas.
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> | Today, my friends and colleagues are stuck in their timelines, news feed, instant messaging, and picture sharing. There may be psychological reasons for that and companies are profiting from this momentum. They are deeply interested in checking what their friends are doing, as well as sharing what they eat or drink and who is their tribe, regardless of the fact that a simple sharing may be harmful to their privacy, to their future. I really feel that they have no idea of what they are doing, but their counterargument is: the service is for free, I do not want to be social excluded, and I am not doing anything wrong, so there is nothing to hide. | | |
Our Environment | |
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< | In the famous Nineteen Eighty-Four book written by George Orwell, the idea of a “big brother” based on social control through cameras became a reality in our lives. That unfolded to what we have today on the traffic of persons with “security” cameras and facial recognition, smartphones with tracking devices and batteries that never turn them off, or even televisions that “hear” and record our conversations. Our environment results from the unification of all of the above in one and unique network, the World Wide Web. That gives unlimited power to the ones controlling the network. | >
> | In the famous Nineteen Eighty-Four book written by George Orwell, the idea of a “big brother” based on social control through cameras became a reality in our lives. The “control” of the fiction can be compared to the “silent social control” that we face today: a reality on which we have traffic and security cameras, facial recognition, smartphones with tracking devices and batteries that never turn them off, or even televisions that “hear” and record our conversations, capturing whatever we do wherever we go. Our environment results from the unification of all of the above in one and unique network, that gives unlimited power to the ones who control it. | | | | |
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Does something "unfold" from fiction into reality? The Web is not the Internet.
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> | The capacity of those few (companies or Governments) who control the databases and the superorganisms (aka computers, servers and other connected devices) to manage and control society becomes tremendous. Mr. Snowden made this crystal clear in 2013. The short-story is that it has become very cheap to process and store data. With that, the amount of personal information generated and gathered is pouring and the society is not organized to react to that. | | | | |
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< | Big brother or big data? The two concepts merged and this merge happened faster than Moore’s law would be able to predict: as the processing power of machines grow, the amount of our personal information generated, and obviously gathered, is pouring and being stored in third-party servers.
This is all approximate about reality, not accurate, perhaps meant to be metaphorical, but not part of an argument that a reader could understand if she wanted to.
With that, the capacity of those few (companies or Governments) who control the databases and this superorganism to manage and control society becomes tremendous. Mr. Snowden made this crystal clear in 2013.
The capacity to unveil personal information is very powerful. Managing to merge that with a lot of other related facts such as climate, time, prices, among other things, and to correlate and compare them (which we also call linkability), provide the controllers with the ability to predict and define our next steps. Predicting sounds like the ability to read the unconscious of people, to know what someone is aiming to willing to do. Machines are already able to read, store, process and react to data, and from data they are creating information about us. Personal consumption can start to derive from an exogenous will. | >
> | The capacity to unveil personal information is very powerful. Managing to merge that with a lot of other related facts such as climate, time, prices, among other things, and to correlate and compare them (which we also call linkability), provide the controllers with the ability to predict and define our next steps. Predicting sounds like the ability to read the unconscious of people, to know what someone is aiming to willing to do. Machines are already able to read, store, process and react to data, and from that data they are creating information about us. Personal consumption can start to derive from an exogenous will. | | | The State is one clear beneficiary of this environment. Its welfare provision created a reason for society to giveback. Initially, it was taxation. Now, we also handle in our personal information as a bargaining chip for that alleged welfare. For the State, controlling all of the information that circulates through the Internet is a huge asset. It needs surveillance, thus the need to have our information available. After decades, they found a great value deal for any alleged welfare given. | | | The question is: Am I part of that? and the answer would be: We are all loosing the game already. The ultimate question might be: Is this generation the last one able to change that pattern, in which machines train us to consume specific products, to follow Governmental will and to accept data obsession. With the time running away fast, the few ones born prior to the Internet revolution and to the data obsession, the ones who have seen things from another point of view but also interacted a lot with this “new” framework, are the links to a possibility of change. | |
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< | This silent war is not lost yet. Now, we shall create an awareness culture around the tech and cool gadgets offered, as well as the online and “free” services available online, to recreate our society with concepts that were once given, but were long ago taken from us from States: our privacy and freedom. With these in hands, consumers and citizens will be empowered to make informed choices about their own lives.
What was the idea around which the draft was organized? A better draft could be made by stating the primary idea clearly, providing specific facts in interpretive context to explain the idea, and to respond to foreseeable questions and objections.
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> | This silent war is not lost yet. Now, we shall create an awareness culture around the tech and cool gadgets offered, as well as the online and “free” services available online, to recreate our society with concepts that were once given, but were long ago taken from us from States: our privacy and freedom. With these in hands, consumers and citizens will be empowered to make informed choices about their own lives. This may be too romantic for some, but I strongly believe that some steps could be taken by those (including myself) who are close to understand where our society is stuck at. |
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