Surveillance Devices to Eventually Record Entire Lives
True Big Brother 24/7, 365 surveillance is not here just yet, but if Martin Sadler, a senior scientist at Hewlett Packard is to be believed, it's not too far off. By 2057, he says there will be roughly one million sensors and recorders for every U.K. resident. Sadler has warned that the amount of information being collected from such a network of devices will lead to important ethical dilemmas.Though New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg recently suggested a video surveillance program for downtown Manhattan, public surveillance is much more prevalent in the U.K. than it is here in the states. Its effectiveness as an anti-terror tool was most famously demonstrated in 2005 in the wake of the London bus bombings when video of the suspects was immediately made available to the media.
Today, the average Londoner is captured on surveillance at least 300 times a day, a number that's on the rise. Many uses of the technology are "innocent and harmless," but the shear wealth of information being collected may lead to dangers that we're only now beginning to understand. Sadler's eerie vision of the future isn't limited to one in which advertisements are targeted at people based on where they were earlier in the day -- though, that will certainly happen. He envisions a future in which there are sensors so small, they'll be able to permeate our bodies to collect personal data.
Sadler says, "We have some real choices that we can make over the next few years about how much we benefit from all this information ... or how much it presents some sort of dark future for us." As we recently reported, the South Koreans are currently conducting a similar self-audit to determine the future dangers of developing technology, only the Koreans are focused on robots instead of surveillance.
From The BBC
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
lionesswimmer @ Aug 30th 2007 8:13PM
Well, I HAD been planning on living until 2091, but I have no desire to live in the dystopic world described here. So, I’ll work on creating an alternative, along with other, like-minded aware folks. It's bad enough that: 1) medical records will be completely centralized in a few years, 2)driver's license strips can contain ALL personal info, 3)the govt.can use an Administrative Subpoena to bypass a court of law and access all personal info without a citizen’s knowledge 4)the govt. has been preparing us for martial law for years, including confiscating our means of self-defense, as in the aftermath of Katrina, 5) all civil rights are eroded in the name of fear-based spin which touts "security" and "safety" of our person and of the Homeland, just like in Nazi Germany and all other formulaic occupation campaigns,6)all phonecalls and computer communications are monitored, 7) space satellites already monitor our every move, with the capacity to read fine print from space, 8) the govt. has claimed the right to invade our homes without a warrant and detain us in camps, just for expressing patriotic concerns that are based on the founding documents of this United States, 9) now I’m on some list. These gradual dissolutions of privacy and human rights leave most of us vulnerable to complete manipulation, powerlessness and lack of recourse. What event will be the next excuse for a tighter level of tyranny?
The antidote: Claim our highest good for all, within and without; lovingly create the world in which we want to thrive with other benevolent beings; think, speak and act accordingly, with courage and focus! All the while, consciously dissolving the shadow parts of ourselves. We get the govt. that reflects who we are as a people! Wake up! Read, or see the movies, *1984* and *Animal Farm.* Dissolve all evil in the Axis of Love. Actively create sustainable life.
Jolvig @ Aug 31st 2007 8:56AM
HERE, HERE, I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU! It makes me want to scream. Where are all the people from the 60's and 70's?? Doesn't anyone care anymore about privacy, the right to associate, the freedoms we used to enjoy? Why isn't anyone protesting? Are we afraid to? What happened to politcal dissent, joining together to protect ourselves from becoming a TRUE POLICE STATE? I am so sick of people saying to me "what do you care if you are not doing anything wrong?" It IS the principal!
Where the hell is the ACLU? They have become lame, only arguing religous issues,for athesists! Not really doing the things they set out to do .....Help us, ACLU!
Me @ Aug 31st 2007 7:30PM
How about a "Stop All Crime" revolution and then see how much Draconian rule occurs?
It needs to be said @ Sep 5th 2007 12:04AM
I worked at a hospital for 20 years. I am a nurse. I quit the day "they" made us all start wearing GPS monitors on our nametags, ostensibly to allow the unit secretary to be able to find us when she needed to. It also monitored how long we were in the break room, how long we took for lunch and even how long we spent in the bathroom. I was outraged at the apathy of my co workers who maintained the notion that if you weren't doing anything wrong it wouldn't matter. The notion that we had become "indentured servants" to the company was not something that my fellow employees could recognize. I left the company in 2000, completely baffled that seemingly educated people couldn't grasp the concept that a company could invade our privacy and baffled that it was ok with them.
It will only get worse.
I am afraid for the future of this supposedly "free" society.
virtual office @ Feb 11th 2008 7:27PM
I think we all watch to much movies…it’s possible though that world will change in a freak-control-center… anyways, maybe the crime rate won’t be that nig as now, but won’t disappear…. not at all.
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Ada virtual office
virtual office @ Mar 14th 2008 6:45AM
I think we all watch to much movies…it’s possible though that world will change in a freak-control-center… anyways, maybe the crime rate won’t be that nig as now, but won’t disappear…. not at all.
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Ada