Remember kids, cameras are omnipresent now

4 Likes

It is not only the kids that need to be mindful of cameras.dd

When I was much younger, I read the book 1984 by George Orwell that talked about "Big Brother" surveillance. Although the precepts in the book did not come true by the year 1984, many of them certainly have now. Unless you are completely "off the grid" your movements and activities are being tracked almost constantly.

2 Likes

The danger is not (yet) "Big Brother" aka government surveillance but "Little Brother" - Corporations spying on us, collecting data about everything we do and available for a price...

This kind of data has already been used against us for targeted misinformation campaigns etc.. and we STILL don't understand the full ramifications of giving away our privacy.

3 Likes

It is interesting that in George Orwell's novel, the phone company (which at that time was Ma Bell), was the primary collector of information. Of course, the Bell network was broken up into a variety of smaller companies. However, over time, these smaller companies have merged into a few huge entities. The Internet was not a reality back when the novel was written, but now most information exchange, including telephone conversations are carried over the Internet backbone. A few huge companies around the world are responsible for this backbone. Many of the companies have also purchased our news and entertainment media companies. Thus, not only are they able to collect personal information on us, but they can now distribute their own personal
interpretation of how we "should" think.

Although companies like Google and Amazon do not operate the Internet backbone, they operate many of the mainframe computers that collect and disseminate data.

1 Like

Wasn’t Orwell British?

Yes, George Orwell was British.

Alexander Graham Bell, who is credited with the invention of the telephone and one of the co-founders of AT&T was Scottish, but lived part of his life in Canada and the United States. Inventor and scientists on both sides of the pond were involved in the development of the technology that allowed both wired and wireless communications that we take for granted today. Today, technology comes from many countries across the globe.

But “Ma Bell” was a term for the phone company in the US.

If you don’t think “big brother” is a threat you might want to read up on Edward Snowden, Room 641A and the “Five Eyes”… in all seriousness Data is the new Oil and while we have major conglomerates, it is still the Wild West.

Uh... so we agree! :wink:

There is danger in both corporate data/surveillance and government surveillance alive and well in the good ol’ US of A

Not just in the US but worldwide. Information is not only the new "oil" but also the latest super weapon. I guess maybe I should say "Little Brother" is the corporate mask on the government actors..

Yes, Ma Bell was often the nickname given to AT&T within the USA. The company maintained a natural monopoly over telephone service in the USA for nearly a century.

The name Atlantic Telephone and Telegraph implied the hope that one day telephone conversations could be conducted not only within the United States, but across the Atlantic Ocean as well. The reality was not accomplished until the completion of the first trans-Atlantic cable in 1956. The novel "1984" was written in 1949, well before trans-Atlantic conversations were possible. Thus, Wells was definitely ahead of his time. I think societies in many countries adapted the concepts of the novel to match their own society challenges and fears. In the USA, it was the monopolistic telephone company that seemed to be the greatest threat to privacy as it reached into people's homes. Today, we have the Internet, which is far worse.

and you guys just painted targets on your back as this public thread is ingested and disseminated through the CIA mainframe. :dart:
diagnosis: independent thinkers - alert!!!! dispatch war rocket ajax, to bring back their bodies...

bet you wish you didn't use your real name and photo in your userID @erktrek is an unusual surname so easy to track down :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

1 Like

Plenty of reasons to wear a :mask: indoors these days.

I'm waiting for something like this that works on all photos, not just flash.