"But technology is not neutral – and neither is code nor numbers. There are human, subjective judgements lurking behind the apparent objectivity offered by algorithms and the “user-friendly” operating systems. These technologies perform almost magically, while at the same time enabling all sorts of organizations to easily collect information about us, something that makes it that bit easier to usher in new forms of surveillance and control."<p>This paragraph relates to a thought I've had lately:<p>What is the software "end game"? There has to a point where there's nothing else worth adding to most commonly used software. Obviously we're in a climate of rapid advancement and meta shifts currently but it seems as though that will inevitably end at some point. Proprietary software that can profitably leverage personal information is bound to hit the market first, but even if it takes 50+ years you have to imagine that equally competitive open source and freedom respecting alternatives will eventually become available.
Dan Geer published a relevant column last week in The Christian Science Monitor: "Opinion: The reasonable expectation fallacy".[0]<p>The lede: "The ability to delete yourself from the Web doesn't really matter. What really matters in the age of advanced surveillance is the right to not be correlated. Technology is always watching and capturing you, but the correlation is where the danger lies. Laws can change that, but only if enacted soon."<p>That's an interesting perspective from the "chief information security officer for In-Q-Tel". [0] But yes, it does seem inevitable: pervasive surveillance of everyone by
everyone. Like a global village aka small town.<p>However, I'm not convinced that laws would be enough. Criminals (large and small) don't care so much about laws. So arguably we're each responsible for our own privacy.<p>The ubiquity of requisite knowledge and technology, facilitated by leaks, may allow the sufficiently motivated to claw back some privacy. But sadly enough, perhaps the most highly motivated are the criminals. Not good.<p>[0] <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/Passcode-Voices/2015/0617/Opinion-The-reasonable-expectation-fallacy" rel="nofollow">http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/Passcode-Voices/2015...</a>
Url changed from <a href="http://phys.org/news/2015-06-technology-quiet-conspiracy.html" rel="nofollow">http://phys.org/news/2015-06-technology-quiet-conspiracy.htm...</a>, which points to this.