Technology as Tattletale

The New York Times is carrying an article noting the increasing presence of location-sensing technologies in our lives. It discusses several applications of the technology like tracking stolen cash from a bank, or making sure a teenage son follows the rules. The article also notes that these ultra-high resolution GPS trackers can allow freedom as much as restrict it: "Project Lifesaver, a nonprofit group in Chesapeake, Va., fits Alzheimer's patients and autistic children with radio frequency beacons disguised as bracelets, which help emergency responders find them if they are lost. Next spring the group will introduce new bracelets, created by Locator Systems, a British Columbia company, that combine radio signals with G.P.S. and cellular communications. That should allow caregivers to establish a zone where patients can safely wander, said Jim McIntosh, the company's chief executive. If patients wander off, emergency crews could receive more specific information."

Comments

Re:Sucks to be Young (sometimes)

[n dot l]

Meh. By then parents will be so busy doing their own stuff and generally neglecting their children that there won't be anyone to watch the monitors, so it all cancels out in the end.

Oh, wait, that already happened, you say?

Well then by all means tag the little bastards. And someone make me a device that yells "Get off my lawn!" whenever kids get close...I'm far too busy doing my own stuff and neglecting real life to be bothered...

</rant>

Let's not use a wide brush here.....

[Stanislav_J]

Using this technology to keep alzheimer's victims from wandering off or hurting themseleves is about the least objectionable "tattletale" scenario I can think of. Going to the other end of the spectrum; say, routinely tracking a driver's movements in his own private car....ah, not so much. Technology itself is neutral, and while it can be used for the betterment of mankind, there will always be the temptation to expand a successful tracking technology for use in ever widening circles of privacy violations. That is why we need strong, sensible legislation to prevent abuses and draw boundries. Unfortunately, that requires strong, sensible politicians to make the law, and I don't think they're making any of those anymore.

Re:"As much" is the key phrase

[DaedalusHKX]

Think on it like this. When a whole generation grows up tagged like cattle, always submitting to the cops, never having shot or carried a gun or trained in any form of hand to hand combat (call it martial arts, call it PT, call it what you will), and never having exercised their own rights (which are now presumed "granted by government" anyways) what more do you need to enslave them?

The fence is like that which a dog learns of early in life inside the electric fence. Walk too far and BZZT. Eventually even if the power dies, that dog will NEVER test the limits again (unless he's one of those rare individuals that resist submission at all costs (dominant/alpha)).

I don't see this as being that useful, other than as a way to keep the cattle of mankind in line and teach them that "someone's always watching"... the great "eye in the sky" and all.

The upside is that there will be plenty who will exercise their freedom, and circumvent these technologies, and eventually leave this planet to the meek/cattle-people to live on. It is the only logical outcome. You cannot "save the world" because it includes the bovine-men alongside those who will not be cowed, and the bovines refuse to be saved... better to be hamburger for sure than to contest with the wild beasts for survival on the range. The only solution is to leave (if anyone suggests crushing the bovine-people in a genocidal armageddon, while fun to entertain in Quake 4 Enemy Territory, in real life, such an endeavor is doomed to fail, and in the unlikely event of success, the drain on the psyche would leave the victors in worse shape than the now nonexistent losers). And I would not be too surprised if the exodus I'm suggesting, has happened at least once before in the history of mankind.