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1984: 55 Years Later
There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment... You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized. In 1948 when 1984 was published the idea of not knowing when and by whom you were being watched was a fantastic one. However fifty-five years later what was fantasy is now reality thanks to the rapid onslaught of computerization by governments eager to 'protect the safety' of their citizens against terrorism. And unfortunately this reality is here to stay. The biggest social problem arising from the use of computers is that computers are being put to use to rapidly erode what is left of society's privacy. While today many feel that they should be trading away their rights to privacy in order to secure their homeland what they fail to recognize is the number of issues arising from living in a society where privacy is no longer respected. Some of these issues include people living in fear and what the Electronic Frontier Foundation refers to as 'function creep'. Bruce Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union was quoted on Wired.com saying "[video survillenace] has little or no effect on the crime rate but it does have an effect on peoples' behavior. People feel cowed." So while crime may temporarily decrease in watched areas there are certainly societal costs for everyone else. Another issue is 'function creep' according to Lee Tien of the EFF who was quoted on Wired.com saying, "once a surveillance system is put in place for a particular function, for example, aviation security ... it can be used for many other functions as well. We've seen this with Social Security numbers on the government side and, of course, with customer databases on the private side." Not so long ago there was little need for governments to monitor the activities of its citizens because people lived, worked, and socialized in small villages and towns where it was easy for the government to have a personal relationship with its citizens (Kling 617). However as the rate of technological change increased over the past 100 years society has become increasingly mobile because of the advent of modern transportation such as cars, trains and airplanes. As society became increasingly mobile governments required a system with which to keep track of these mobile citizens. Society's evolution into a mobile one coincided with the computer age and the government implemented these systems using computers and the relationship between the government and its people became far less personal and, in fact, much more invasive. This problem is not a trivial one to solve because it is not an inherently technological problem but rather a social one and thus requires society to first recognize the problem and to then decide how to deal with the problem. It is hard for a society to recognize the erosion of their right to privacy when so much of it has already slowly eroded and it is even harder to face the issue when governments justify increased erosion by claiming to make the world a safer place. And so privacy proponents have more than a privacy fight to worry about because many see attacks against invasion of privacy as attacks against a government's fight with terrorism. Once a balance between safety and privacy is agreed upon by a society's elected representatives that realistically mirrors the beliefs of society then it must be enshrined in legislation. However historically legislation is unable to keep pace with that of technological innovation and so legislative issues are often out of date by the time they are enacted. While the cost to the quality of life by the constant surveillance by governments is hard to quantify there are certainly a number of negative qualitative issues that arise. Without the great advances made by computerization the issues raised by constant surveillance would be the subject of science fiction books such as George Orwell's 1984 and not a reality for citizens in modern countries. Unfortunately solving the issue of constant surveillance and the loss of our privacy is not an easy one to solve because of the delicate balance society must choose between safety and privacy. We can only hope that one day our governments will be as concerned about protecting our civil rights as they are about protecting our countries from self induced terrorism. © Copyright 2005 Matt Goyer. |
3/18/2005 - 8:15 pm GMT - [guid] 3/15/2005 - 4:12 pm GMT - [guid] 'How to edit your photos like a professional' (via Kottke).
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Work on Windows Media Center
Want to work on Windows Media Center? We're hiring across almost all disciplines!. One of the job perks is you get a Media Center to take home and run the latest and greatest software on. 4/11/2005 - 3:13 pm GMT - [guid] Can anyone help out Mike?
I'm trying to setup My TV to work on a channel other than 2, 3, or 4. My cable is Qwest Choice TV (Cable TV provided over the phone line). What happens is that there is one set top box for the whole house and then each of the TV's are assigned a different channel (in my case 3, 10 and 13). I can get Live TV working on Channel 3, but there doesn't appear to be a way to select anything else (signal comes in over coax). 4/7/2005 - 6:51 pm GMT - [guid] Gyration sucks
I hate my Gyration mouse. Even though the receiver is only six feet away from my couch it still does not work reliably. I literally have to be one foot away from the recevier for the mouse to work. 4/5/2005 - 12:57 am GMT - [guid] Ben has some complaints about MCE
Ben has three compliants about MCE: You can't search from the guide page. Skipping forward is hard. Can't switch inputs. Have you tried using the skip and replay buttons while in the guide? That should increase the rate at which you skip forward/back. As for your other suggestions... Yes, possibly easy improvements, but we have to weigh every new incremental improvement not just against all known bugs, other suggestions but also new features. How would you prioritize hooking up VCRs to Media Center versus implementing new ATSC/HDTV functionality?* While we are 'Microsoft', we are still resource and time constrained and have to make hard tradeoffs and sometimes seemingly easy little things get cut. Update: * I don't mean to imply we actually chose ATSC/HDTV over input switching. I was just using ATSC/HDTV as an example of a new feature that might have been prioritized higher than input switching. 4/5/2005 - 12:17 am GMT - [guid] How to put MCE/DVR-MS content on your PSP
Do you have a Media Center and a new PSP? Barb has the low down on preparing and converting Recorded TV from MCE (convert to mpeg4) content to copy to a memory stick. 4/5/2005 - 12:06 am GMT - [guid] New Expert Zone article on burning and archiving
Microsoft Expert Zone, Burn, Archive, and Share Digital Videos Using Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. Tim Muscott, a group program manager in eHome, describes how he shares personal digital videos with friends and family. Learn how to burn, archive, and share digital videos using MCE. 3/31/2005 - 2:21 pm GMT - [guid] Why I don't have Comcast
I would definitely try it out except that my building has signed an exclusive contrast with Millennium Cable, which is a huge bummer. As for my setup. I have a ATI x600 graphics card and an ATI ATSC capture card (I think it's unreleased?). 3/31/2005 - 12:44 am GMT - [guid] Cool looking small MCE
Engadget links to this cool looking Media Center from Beblu: [image] 3/30/2005 - 10:32 pm GMT - [guid] MCE needs a better name
Scott Williams thinks Microsoft has lost it's groove with respect to product naming and points to Media Center, What's in a name?: I think that Windows Media Center Edition 2005 is an excellent product, but sheesh, you practically have to take a breath while saying it and it sounds lame. If Apple came out with a media center product they would probably call it iRock or something like that. The last good Microsoft name I can remember off the top of my head is XBox. It does a great job at sounding interesting and even manages to detach itself somewhat from the stigma of being a Microsoft product. Yes, I'd love an XBox type name for Media Center. Suggestions? Update: Ming also goes off
">and explores some names: Whatever name's out there, MS needs to seriously rebrand its OS. Windows followed by 10 descriptors (like XP Pro N for Europe) just doesn't cut it anymore. 3/30/2005 - 10:29 pm GMT - [guid] I cancelled our cable subscription today
I called and cancelled our $80/month digital cable subscription from Millennium Cable today. When the customer service rep asked why, I said that all the channels I wanted were available via over the air HD broadcasters. He at first didn't know what OTA was but I explained it and he followed up asking 'what if there were a special promotion, would you stay?' and I responded that it certainly was hard to compete with free. And not just free, but free and works with my Media Center. Of course, HBO isn't available via either OTA or through Millennium so we're out of luck there when Six Feet Under comes back on. We'll likely turn to an alternative distribution mechanism to get the shows and I'll feel a bit guilty, but not so guilty since it doesn't matter how much I'd be willing to pay I still couldn't get them in HD short of moving into a new building. Millennium does offer HBO via standard def digital cable, but I'll be honest, I can't watch standard definition TV anymore. I'm a HD convert and there's no going back. 3/30/2005 - 6:36 pm GMT - [guid]
mail *at* mattgoyer.com
Disclaimer: The posts on this weblog are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights. The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way. University of Waterloo alumni |
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Updated: 4/11/2005; 11:08:31 PM. |