Justice Sotomayor Warns Against Tech-Enabled "Orwellian" World

An anonymous reader writes: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke on Thursday to faculty and students at the University of Oklahoma City about the privacy perils brought on by modern technology. She warned that the march of technological progress comes with a need to enact privacy protections if we want to avoid living in an "Orwellian world" of constant surveillance. She said, "There are drones flying over the air randomly that are recording everything that's happening on what we consider our private property. That type of technology has to stimulate us to think about what is it that we cherish in privacy and how far we want to protect it and from whom. Because people think that it should be protected just against government intrusion, but I don't like the fact that someone I don't know can pick up, if they're a private citizen, one of these drones and fly it over my property."

Comments

old person surrounded by old people

[bussdriver]

Old person explains something new to THEM or something THEIR peers are ignorant of but every younger person is aware of.... not news.

1984 wasn't about technology, it was about authoritarianism taken to the next level using primarily negative feedback. A realistic response (because history shows negative feedback is totally dominant) to the highly praised imaginative Brave New World which used positive feedback to control populations. It's a rebuttal based on historic human behavior. Both books need to be studied because techniques from both camps are used to control populations. Soft sciences make it more effective and technology is merely a tool.

When somebody has an epiphany; that is great, humor them for catching up. Then try to guide them to the next step and let them have another one. Technology isn't 1984; we have always been there as humans. Few societies are organized so well using the latest social science as 1984 did. It just allows things to go further and the technology allows for more micromanagement-- which is the holy grail for authoritarian systems... the end game solution. Oh, 1948 was the date of the book; 1984 is meaningless, just a future date taken from 1948 but close enough for people at the time to THINK about it.

The micromanagement technology is arguably is required for an end game solution like 1984 because it's been tried thru out human history but eventually it fails because they can't control all the people all the time-- 1984 is the end game solution, where they finally can. Nothing is different except that it's permanent an unable to be stopped. No revolutions. Likely, there are no other nations to invade or conquer either (likely just a smokescreen.)

Terrorists like the founders of the USA would be caught early. No revolutions. Violent human struggles on the group level would end. ORDER is one of the top priorities of authoritarians. can't allow unrest. can't even allow protests -- you need a permit or it's disorderly --- we accept that despite it being in the 1st next to speech; we don't quite accept speech zones or permits for free speech... but we are not that far from it.

Re:What are the bounds of property?

[Jane Q. Public]

The U.S. Supreme Court declared the navigable airspace to be "a public highway" and within the public domain.

HOWEVER:

the authority to govern "navigable" airways comes with some caveats, which most people here aren't considering.

First, "navibable" in U.S. law implies that manned craft can use that route to travel interstate. That is pretty much the same definition as "navibable" waters.

The Federal government's AUTHORITY to govern "navigable airways", just like their authority to govern "navigable waters", stems from their authority, granted by the Constitution, to govern interstate commerce.

"Navigable airways" are particular altitudes and routes. They are clearly defined in aviation charts.

Everything else is "fair game", and by the Constitution (and Common Law) is up to the landowners and the States.

To put it in a nutshell: by ancient common law (which still holds; U.S. is a Common Law country) everything EXCEPT the clearly-defined "navigable airways" is indeed legally controlled by the landowner below, and is not subject to Federal jurisdiction.

Further, in my state, it is not legal to use any means to "surveil" property which isn't normally visible from the street, by ANY means, including aircraft, without a warrant. And yes, that means using a stepladder to see over the fence IS a crime.