THEJNSREPORT

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Privacy…Do you mind?

Written by T.D Moody

I’ll be the first to admit that I happen to love technology.  Not all of its incarnations and variants but mostly the most beneficial and time-saving devices and gadgets that can and often times does make life a bit easier and/or simpler.  Advances in medical procedures and anesthesiology, the computers and robots used for advanced and complicated surgeries are some examples.

That being said after reading a few articles on the upcoming “Google Glass” I have no doubt that privacy is being dealt another death-blow with devices as powerful as the early impressions of Google Glass come forth by techies, supporters, and detractors alike.

Years ago while reading some tech content I remember seeing it said that the technology available to the average consumer is actually 50 years or more behind what’s actually possible now and that the technology is suppressed and doled out in piece meal installments for several reasons.

One of these reasons and probably the most obvious is profits.  Each iteration of a new “hi-tech” device comes with some modest upgrades but is still far less than what’s actually possible yet people will want the upgrade and continue to chase and pay for the progression.  I think that’s a natural part of mankind to want to keep getting better and wanting more, and more, and more.

I think back to my days as a kid playing video games on Coleco Vision (for those old enough to remember it) at a friend’s place before Atari and Nintendo came on the scene.  Then came the Sega Master System followed by Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.  Each system boasted technological upgrades and games that improved on performance and graphic displays.  Game play and overall execution of games was the stronghold of Nintendo for years over even the Sega Genesis.

This was due in large part to the fact that while Genesis sported better specs and graphics performance from a 16 bit system versus an 8 bit Nintendo, Nintendo’s games were better thought out more developed, more rewarding, and challenging than Genesis games which were merely eye candy with little substance in terms of game play and endings.

Today it’s XBox 360, PS3 (PS4 coming soon), and PC gaming.  How times have changed.  Did I mention even the privacy policies of the current gaming consoles are lengthy, wordy, and essentially basically state the system can spy on you through your agreed use of it and agreeing to its terms of service policy.  Playing games online, links to accounts it’s everywhere.

Now with the news of the upcoming release of Google Glass mixed reviews are coming in where privacy comes to the forefront and is in the spotlight like never before with the availability of social media and instant uploads and sharing.

One doesn’t have to see the potential for abuse and more secretive spying into the lives of ordinary people where we are all the reporters and the reported.  When given technology without the restraints and safeguards to respect and protect personal privacy, there is no place left where anything is private.  Every conversation had can recorded in one’s own home.  Willing surveillance of one’s every move is possible and treated as some simple novelty or toy and nothing more.

Knowing people are people and will push any boundaries or limits in front of them when there is no restraint is good enough reason to view this technological advance with trepidation.  Is it true that every one wants to be a celebrity?  I don’t believe so but with Google Glass and it’s sure to come successors and competitors, the potential to turn every one into a “celebrity” is real whether wanted or not.  It’ll be like “Smile” your on the Net” , “Smile your on the toilet and we all can see your …ewww!!! In real-time.”

Now with seemingly random killings in unsuspected areas popping up all over, a social climate is emerging in which it is becoming an accepted norm in order to “feel safe” to surveil everything and everyone and some how no privacy = security.  In actuality it equals total enslavement.  NO FREEDOM.  History is repeating itself and most of us are happily, blissfully, distracted with gadgets and toys that spy on us even more so than having a soldier quartered in our own homes.

Google Glass seems benign on the surface as it’s just being introduced, but isn’t that the way all things start out?  Small, a seed, baby step after baby step in progression until it reaches it’s fullness and we’re all staring at each other in disbelief at the horrors we collectively allowed to grow and fall upon us.  Orwellian depicted Police States rising all over the world in the name of “Peace and Security” is very frightening and very real.

Educating ourselves and not being so caught up in the bells and whistles of the latest gadgets and gizmo’s to the point of being willfully ignorant is crucial.  It seems the more tech dependent we become and the more surveillance we accept, the easier it becomes to see the invisible bars and prisons we’re all in.  Very much like in the movie “The Matrix”

If this seems too unreal and far fetched, I suggest going around the city and counting the number of surveillance cameras that are openly displayed in public.  From the subway stations, to the new buses that have cameras all throughout, to buildings inside and out.  Then consider how many satellites there are watching us from the sky and the advanced real-time capabilities of GPS.  Is it really that difficult to believe or are we “tuning it out” and refusing to see what’s in plain sight?

Mini computers that can monitor our every movement will be marketed as the newest “Hi-tech” advance that should be embraced without resistance or questioning of its true purpose and/or potentials.  How I want to wake from this nightmare.  The president’s speech on U.S. government authorized drone strike policy is somehow supposed to instill confidence in authorized killings of any target deemed “terror suspect” or “person of interest”.

To me that’s like saying,”Anyone can be considered is a potential terrorist or extremist when they question the policies and actions of government.”  “We need to go over to this country and kill 200 people because according to our records these people are classified and approved as terrorist groups and extremists with links to weapons of mass destruction.”  How do we confirm these classifications is there any oversight?

I remember President Obama in one of his re-election campaign speeches saying not that we the American people needed “Smaller” Government as our nation’s founders intended but “Smarter” Government like those hideous and frightening IBM ads popping up all over the place as if they are improving the world for people.

Everything is happening the way it is for a reason it is no coincidence.  America is at a crossroads this is true as President Obama said in his speech, but the future nation being left to the children of tomorrow is nothing more than a stolen future and guarantee of enslavement.  I fear being older and living to see the younger generations of today and tomorrow looking back in history at my generation and the generations before mine that are responsible for their future.

President Obama tells us the future of terrorism is home-grown and foreign.  No one is safe.  Problem…Reaction…Solution.  Game Over.  “Oversight?”  What Oversight?  There is supposed to be in place already the traditional checks and balances in government.  Obfuscating the main issue with spin and word play is in my mind an inexhaustible skill being utilized again and again in speeches to assure us that the Government is actually doing things that will help us, the People.