WE ARE SUFFERING SELF INFLICTED WOUNDS
It is as though we've crossed a "Rubicon" and now worry about the consequences. Big Data, Surveillance, Algorithmic Analysis, NSA, etc, etc.
Now FaceBook confirms that up to six million users' personal data, even that which is not public, has been seen and or gathered by third parties. Many have argued those who post so much personal information willingly have themselves to blame when that data is hijacked, hacked, sold or used to either bug or defraud you.
A couple of experts are now saying that analyzing big data needs to be more effectively used by federal authorities. They contend the alleged Boston bombers history of viewing violent or terrorist prone on-line videos should have led to an interdiction before they acted out what they were thinking. Thought police?
Being a First Amendment advocate, I've been posting about this crunch since I entered the blogosphere.
Here's an earlier set of thoughts, dealing with this idea of thought police. The Eli Pariser video should be must viewing for anyone who spends anytime in cyberspace.
The point is our privacy suffers, by our own hand, by commercial enterprises, by government agencies and by information pirates. It is just out there and all to easy to overlook or put out of mind. But like most things,it grows. What can, what should we do about it?
Jon Stewart
The Diplomat
Those of you who appreciate the satire of Jon Stewart
know he is off this summer, directing a film in the Middle East. Well, he's made an interesting appearance.
See you down the trail.
The first thing that should be understood is nothing out there in the blogosphere or social network is protected and private. Assume that anyone and everyone is listening and it isn't possible to take back what you've posted.
ReplyDeleteI have a former colleague who can't find a job. He doesn't seem to realize it may be because of the obscene and angry things he has said on Facebook about his last two employers.
ReplyDeleteI think the expectation of privacy is overblown, and yes, it's really foolish to think it exists when you put any communication out in cyberspace.
ReplyDeleteBut the sheer amount of information is soon to be so massive that there's no effective way it can be used, anyway. All the NSA's efforts didn't prevent the Boston bombers, after all.
One of the truisms of engineering is that the more complicated the system, but more unreliable and susceptible to breakdowns it becomes, and the easier it is to foil. That's really what put Reagan's star wars missil defense to rest—the recognition that it would have to be too complicated to ever work reliably.
Similarly with information systems. There's so much out there now that it soon will become utterly unnavigable.