Privacy

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Privacy


In the book, 1984, the world was controlled by the government and "Big Brother" was always watching. In the world we live in today, new technologies are being implemented, most are useful. Yet, as the years go by, the government seems to be watching us more and more. the government is able to tap into your phone diectory, the government has placed more street cameras, and the government is able to know exactly your location with a very small piece of info such as an IP addreass of even a cell-phone call.

• Do you think the government is watching us more and reducing the amount over privacy we have?
• If so, do you think this is for the greater good?
• Do you think that the world could become a distopia like 1984?
• Do you think that technology plays a role in this?

 

[Velocir_X]

Its not necessarily technology that is doing this,
over the years the government has been throwing us into a more and more sheep "follow the herd" mentality
and recently our first amendment has been restricted greatly

A good example of this are insults of presidents,
just a year ago you'd have thousands of insults to George Bush - him eating cats, Killing Babies, etc.
Now if you look at Mr. Obama, a week ago a doctor made a joke about him showing him as a shaman with Obama Care written under it
If he had made that joke about Bush nobody would of cared,
but guess what since it was about Obama the dude lost his job and the internet has been scourged of it
I couldn't find a a single reference - and this is freakin scary

 

[Glitchfinder]

It isn't exactly the government that is watching us, for the most part. Mostly, it is the private entities like Google that we use every day. The government doesn't waste the money required to actually watch that many people. (Actually, those $10,000 toilet seats were because they ran out of funding to pay for services, but had too much for products, and payed for services through products)

Personally, I think that the logging done by companies like Google is for their own good. They get a better product out of it, and they have their asses covered when the government forces them to give up records. The real danger is insecure databases, which allow hackers to steal your info and make a profit off of you.

As to the dystopia, it could happen, but not for a long time. Even now, we have far too much in the way of people rallying against the loss of privacy, and winning. The gradual decline into dystopia takes many many years, and it probably won't happen in my lifetime.

As for technology playing a role, think about it this way: without technology, a 1984 state would no be possible. Without the ability to instantly transfer info across great distances, and to record the activities of people through things like keyloggers, cameras, etc, the 1984 state would never and could never come into being.

As to the censorship thing, that isn't the government. That's the people. People love Obama, and aren't willing to see him disparaged. The government does censor, but only in extreme circumstances, like the "cookbook" that was banned almost worldwide for the sheer volume of illegal actions it gave detailed instructions to perform.

 

[Zekallinos]

I don't believe that we are just going to fall into a 1984 regime. People will not let their privacies be pushed too far without a reason. However, you will notice that totalitarians regime aren't only about surveillance, it's about fear. Under an outside threat, people will, for a sense of security, allow intrusive methods more easily. That's how regimes begin.

Plus, we don't need all that. Give an average person a house, a car, beer and some reality shows and you have to fear anything. Instead of watching what people do, we let them do what they want, knowing that it's irrelevant. Notice that up until recently, intellectuals were hardly able to get their ideas across due to the majority of people being stupid and to some extend, brainwashed. It's probably what happened with the Obama thing. I'm not saying Obama supporters are stupid (I being one), but the result of the thing being brought down is probably the result of the people (who are, in majority, pro-Obama) , not the government.