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I think your response to this will depend on whether or not you've read Dave Eggers' The Circle, in which battery-free wireless cameras play a central role. (Sp
by fredley 9y ago
I think your response to this will depend on whether or not you've read Dave Eggers' The Circle, in which battery-free wireless cameras play a central role. (Spoiler: it doesn't go well).
Imagine the current state of blanket surveillance, particularly in dense urban cities like London, but everywhere, invisibly. Cheap, battery-free, weatherproof cameras are a step towards this.
P.S.: The book isn't great, but it's miles better than the film.
- VMG 9y agoThe response needs to factor in that this is more or less inevitable. The solution to potential power abuse must be Sousveillance.
- fredley 9y agoOr that video manipulation will become so easy and commonplace that video has zero value as evidence.
- aerique 9y agoWhy wouldn't the average government just outlaw Sousveillance / Inverse surveillance?
- VMG 9y agoThey would. Enforcement is a separate issue
- JoeAltmaier 9y agoRules don't help as much in real life as we think. They are imaginary, and have influence on our behavior only because we let them. If violating a rule has no consequence or little chance of detection, we can expect large-scale violation. Further, if an action satisfies some person ethic but violates a public rule, many folks will take that action anyway. Violating the speed limit to get a spouse to medical aid. Violating a confidence to stop injury. Things like that. If a rule is counter to human nature (curiosity, personal safety) then it is likely to be useless.
- musage 9y agoHow is that inevitable? Other than the heat death of the universe, inevitability is just an excuse for inaction or even support. It's cowardice masking itself, but only to itself, as wisdom.
- skybrian 9y agoThe underlying assumption behind sousveillance is people will make reasonable decisions in response to publicity if everything gets publicized. But anyone paying attention to what goes viral on social networks should know how cruel and arbitrary people can be in practice. Recording stuff and not sharing it unless there's good reason seems more humane?
- MattRix 9y agoYou aren't wrong, the film really was terrible.
- cptskippy 9y agoWhat sort of security do these employ though? Could these end up being like police radio frequencies where anyone can tap in and watch? If anything that might be beneficial because you could then have independent sources verifying a feed's integrity? Then again could someone override those frequencies and broadcast whatever they want you to see?
- fredley 9y agoIn the book, the devices are all public, anyone can watch any feed.
- howard941 9y agoWidespread open and mutlidirectional surveillance comes to a mostly good ending in David Brin's Earth. The doctrine gets a non-fiction (and IMO persuasive) treatment in The Transparent Society. I'm not so concerned about a panopticon open to all.