Are we living in an Orwellian future?
With the increase in war, terrorism and gun violence there has been the introduction of ‘mass surveillance’ by governments, allowing them more flexibility in terms of what and how they can collect information on citizens. Indeed, gun violence is becoming an escalating problem with a recent CNN article stating there has been more than 1 school shooting every week in the US in 2018.
However it seems that this increase in surveillance is leading to more of a ‘big brother’ state (imagined by George Orwell in his novel 1984), where our every move is being watched and analysed. On top of this companies are collecting more data on us than ever before. This raises some moral questions about the borderline between keeping us safe and allowing citizens their right to privacy.
Mass Surveillance
However, a fairly new advancement is that some forms of public transport are now being equipped with the recording devices - to me this like its taking things a bit far, what do you think? For more information about this check out this article.
Mass surveillance in Xinjiang China
In the Chinese city of Xinjiang there has been riots and civil unrest causing several casualties dating back several years, and has led to many changes in terms of surveillance. According to endgadget.com:
Xinjiang has both a massive security presence and ubiquitous surveillance technology: facial-recognition cameras; iris and body scanners at checkpoints, gas stations and government facilities; the collection of DNA samples for a massive database; mandatory apps that monitor messages and data flow on smartphones; drones to monitor the borders.
What I found interesting was that in Xinjiang they have taken the extreme measure of asking for ID with purchases of any knives - even just regular kitchen knives. Knives are then encoded and have a QR code lasered into the blade - the intention being that if the knife has been used for violence it can be traced back to its owner.
It does seem these changes have made a huge difference with decreases in violence and ceasing of riots across Xinjiang. However, is this type of surveillance too much of an invasion of privacy? How would you feel if you knew the government was tracking your every move? In my opinion is that it would lead to a level of uncomfortableness for the everyday citizen as though they haven't done anything wrong they know they are being watched.
Are you being watched?
Although Black Mirror is a dystopian future type television series (highly recommend it i you haven't seen it!) and dramatised, it seems that webcams and cellphone cameras are being watched for a variety of reasons. Although there is no specific mention of governments hacking into webcams, there techniques are not always above board, so it is a possibility.
There are some suggestions that you could protect yourself by placing sticky tape over your camera when it not being used, but these seems a bit paranoid to me - what do you think?
There has also been reports that the NSA is planning to ‘infect’ millions of computers with malware which will in esscence give them access to all sorts of private information. It seems that there are more and more ways the government can track our every move, especially when we are online and have a ‘digital footprint’. It makes me feel uneasy knowing that people out there, not only companies like Facebook and Google, but also governments have all sorts of data available on innocent citizens.
You never know who could be listening
Recently there has been some news about how a couple had their private conversation recorded by their Alexa device, which was then sent to one of their employees. In this case it seems and innocent mistake, but it makes you wonder what would happen if the use of your Alexa rights got into the wrong hands? Could they have access to your private conversations?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Where should the line be drawn between privacy and keeping the public safe?
Pictures downloaded from royalty free website pixabay.com
References:
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/02/us/school-shootings-2018-list-trnd/index.html
https://www.engadget.com/2018/02/22/china-xinjiang-surveillance-tech-spread/?guccounter=1
http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/feature/a795242/can-people-spy-on-me-through-my-laptop-or-smartphone-camera/
https://www.fastcompany.com/40510238/in-xinjiang-china-some-knives-branded-with-owners-qr-codes
https://theintercept.com/2014/03/12/nsa-plans-infect-millions-computers-malware/
http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/24/technology/alexa-secret-recording/index.html
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I came across a reddit post yesterday where a couple travelling through China were stopped at the border and an app was installed on their phones. The app was launched and then the icon disappeared. The Chinese are rooting and bugging foreigners phones, seems 100% orwellian to me!
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/8ovoc0/chinese_border_police_installing_spyware_on_a/
Thats insane! I think that definetly draws the line and is a bit much. I can understand they are trying to keep people safe but thats just spying on people
Black Mirror is an excellent series and in my opinion, frighteningly accurate about what could happen in the near future. Fifteen Million Merits, Men Against Fire and Nosedive were excellent episodes.
I think that mass surveillance is the last option after everything else has failed. Education, knowledge, peaceful means, talking to people, listening them and their needs, helping those who need help, gun regulations, reducing inequality and improving the well-being of everyone.
I know that after all that, bad things could still happen, but trusting people and helping them before they become desperate, would prevent good people turning into people who may still be good, but do bad things because they think it's their only option. And very few people in the world are beyond repairing or help. Permanently bad. Many good people have done bad things because of fear or because they see no way out. So it's every governments job to take care of people, not make them hate or fear them.
Mass surveillance means that someone out there has a lot of information. As information in good hands is usually used for good, information in evil or corrupt hands tends to lead to bad things.
Information is power. In whose hands do we want that power to be? Can we be sure that it is only used for good things? And are we on the same page about good and bad? Did we remember to check or uncheck all the right boxes in this license term of life? And if not, where is my information now?
Yea i havent watched all the episodes yet im stretching them out to make them last 🙂
It seems that education should be the most important in making change but i feel this isnt happening alot and we would rather just assume the worst and spy on innocent citizens!
Yeah i agree there is loads of data out there which could be used for good but if it gets into the wrong hands could cause some real damage.
I hate how many new privacy policies that come out i dont read them all and just tick often not even reading them.
Lets hope our data is used for good in the future! Thanks for the awesome comment ☺☺
Interesting how there wasn't all of this gun violence when I was growing up and guns were easier to get. We shot them as kids, and not long before my time schools even had gun clubs. Guessing all of this liberal progress has made a few people unbalanced, as well as the culture wars taking place since the floodgates were opened in 1965.
I suspect that every action done online is monitored, and has been for some time. It is clear they wish us to have no privacy, even in our own homes. What is scary is how many think nothing of letting them openly spy, with such things as Amazon Echo. Of course, we already chip ourselves with our cell phones (that have microphones and cameras that can be activated remotely). I wouldn't be surprised if they have somehow chipped our debit/credit cards and debt instruments passed off as money with tiny tracking/listening devices. Cameras on every corner.
Scary times and most want to pretend it is all normal.
The culture around guna has become a bit scary! I think education is best - but it now seems like there needs to be much stricter regulations aswell.
Everything we do online is either monitored or can be traced somehow these days - scary thought - its like theres someone always in your house snooping.
I disagree with the restrictions. The constitution was very clear, and those who are not insane should never be stripped of their rights to self defense because others abuse the right. Regulations always hit those who are no threat. If someone is of a mind to go kill random groups of people, no restriction law will ever be a deterrent to that mind frame.
Yeah, the snooping really bothers me. My hope is one day my meager investment in crypto will moon enough so I can buy some property away from the cities and put most of the technology away and live with nature and rediscover what it means to be a man in nature.
I don't think they're trying to keep people safe - they are just using that as an excuse!
I hope the majority are tying to keep us safe - but there are always bad apples! :P
We are living in orwellian future. This reminded me that I want to share my thoughts of living with alexa in three days. It was creepy!
I'll make sure to link back to this article as you just gave me a nice possible scenario of what could happen.
I wouldn't use the Alexa - seems abit creepy to me - I can live without it....
We have been living in an increasingly Orwellian society for a long time and CCTV cameras are just the tip of the iceberg.
Yeah it seems to be getting worse!