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Watching You
BWJones writes "National Geographic is running a story this month on surveillance. I received my copy today and the article is reasonably extensive (for National Geographic) and well written, covering many issues that get attention here on Slashdot both good and bad. There is coverage of what's good with the technologies (a program called Poseidon that helps ensure folks don't drown in swimming pools) and what's bad (death of privacy). In between are some additional details on backscatter X-ray and a taste of some of the security for the 2002 Winter Olympics here in SLC. I got to see a little bit more than the average person of the security during the winter games as our building was the emergency backup headquarters if anything went wrong and was routinely crawling with FBI and other folks including the Secret Service making for some interesting nights at the lab."
Imagine devices that monitor the breathing rhythms of infants in cribs, watch toddlers at day care, and track children as they go to and from school; that can keep an eye on our home supply of orange juice and let us know when the milk is sour. Machines might watch our calorie intake and burn-off, monitor air quality in our homes, and look out for mice and bugs.
All these things are currently available, and have been for at least 5 years, it's just they're very expensive at the moment.
I have over 70 freaks, do you?
The problem of the state overreaching its bounds was a problem the founding fathers realized which is why there are checks and balanced. For example, to watch certain things you need a warrant from the courts, etc. The problem is that in the interest of security we are eliminating too much of these checks and balances making it easier to get a warrant or eliminating the need for one. Checks and Balances in the government is a good thing. You have ambitious men in different branches that are going to look after their own self-interest which will mean not giving too much power to other branches because thet lowers their own power. We need to get back to more of this rather then less.
If people understand that such monitoring is taking place and are fine with it these technologies can be very helpful especially in a public place like a pool. It is when it is used to look at people who do not know they are being watched and no not want to be that there is a problem. You example sounds like a great use of the technology.
Howeever, if all that data is there any anybody has reason to look at you they can find all kinds of information about you that you may not want them to find. So, you have to stay in a "don't rock the boat mantality" which is not good for society. The people who go beyond what is normal are often the revlutionaries of a society.
most people are concerned with such obviously beneficient uses of surveillance... if it saved my child's life I'd kiss the boots of the guys who invented it.
I think we all realize surveillance is going on... there's a huge amount of info out there on virtually everyone; that info exists, as it must in a increasingly computerized world. I think the real issue for most people is simply WHO has access to that information, and WHY they want it.
If the FBI wanted the info from my internet connection for the purposes of catching some terrorist, and they were able to give me a good reason why (and they asked me nicely)... Hell, I'd probably go get them some beers while they were sniffing the datastream. Some surveillance is useful... but I want targeted surveillance, not someone hoovering up terabytes of information for data-mining (and who knows what other potential nefarious purposes).
If someone's looking into my information, I just want the courtesy of knowing WHO and WHY... and I'll make my own decisions at that point.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
" When is everyone going to figure out that everything in 1984 isn't coming true?"
People haven't figured out the root cause of 1984 is tyranny, not technology. A free society or or even a mostly free society doesn't have 1984-type problems, because this type of government is interested in protecting the freedom of individuals, not some other agenda. 1984 is progressing far better in N. Korea than in the US despite better technology in the US.
Vote for Pedro
If you want more, National Geographic want you to pay for it.
...and it is worth every penny.
Every month those guys send me a magazine filled with the "pornography" of the natural and human world. (Bare-chested females from tribal and agrarian societies notwithstanding.) Interspliced, you find stories from every corner of the globe, the infinitesimal, the infinite and of the soul.
They're coverage of "Gulf War PART DEUX!!" was excellent, as is they're continuing series on Afganistan. Also of note was the article on modern slavery.
So yeah, I may be a National Geographic fanboy. However... Objectively speaking, they send me a magazine on ultra-high quality stock; printed on to which are some of the most stunning images and amazing stories. This is a service I am happy to pay for. Nevermind that I'm funding research (to a limited extent) by doing so. I'm not sure if you were implicating that one shouldn't have to pay for such a service. I posted this more to quell the extremists who take the notion of "free" a bit too far.
Remember: umount it before you fsck it.