We shall soon see for ourselves

My response to concerns raised about eyespy being used for sinister purposes by unscroupulous types like stalkers etc. in threads on the Mail and Guardian Online and 419legal.org forums.

“… concerned about what is released to the public. … things like Stalkers and other loonies…
… Big Brother information could be quite dangerous… :bugeyes: ”

Yes, you suggest a very scary scenario, (which has also been mentioned on the ,419legal.org of SAPS forum) but on the other hand, what if your kids have stayed out much later than they promised to be back and are not answering their mobile phone � in fact � even more worrying, you can’t trace their location via the cell phone company because their phone is off. Perhaps its battery has run down, perhaps they have turned it off not to be disturbed or� perhaps something more sinister is going on. I don’t think the eyespy service is that comprehensive or pervasive, yet. Imagine though, if you could at least find out where the vehicle they are travelling in is, or was last visible.

The necessary technology is available e.g. IBM have been marketing high definition ’smart’ video surveillance products that can electronically scan and ‘read’ licence plate numbers since at least 2003 and local cell phone companies have already installed video cameras viewing many major traffic intersections (e.g. MTN . Information is being, and will increasingly be gathered like never before. Behind the hoo-haa of things like google, wiki-sites etc is the info-rush, the revolution of our time is playing out in the clamouring for ownership, and thus ability to market information. Information is now a commodity. Sites like Johncom’s reporter.co.za is just a sign of things to come.

Of course many people’s immediate response is that all of this information should be regulated and controlled, typically by government, but stop and consider government’s track record. When last did you try to get something out of dept of Home Affairs? And when one considers the prevalence of high level corruption, government control may just be the surest way of delivering all this information into the ‘wrong hands’. If the technology is available at all, I vote that it should be available to the public.

“…and I would suggest counselling and not spying as the answer…” Personally I agree very strongly with these sentiments, which is why I have tried to list such resources on the eyespySA ‘help’ page. Any additional suggestions are most welcome.

” …People should mind their own business… ” sometimes yes perhaps, but most of us also aspire to live in a civil society, something more sophisticated than mere tribalism or brute-ish barbarism, we are all, at least for as long as we share the same galaxy, inseparably each-others’ business. Whether we have the capacities needed to deal with this or not and whether we like it or not, we’re stuck on this planet together. The criminals are not going to disappear over night, politicians typically don’t get into power by being considerate contributors to society, and technology will for the foreseeable future serve whoever is capable of- and inclined to- use and employ it.

Big Brother information is a reality, was Orwell’s predictions correct? That society would allow a minority elite, be it a unilateral omnipresent State allowed to take control of- and abuse this to enforce perfect conformity and blind obedience, or immoral selfish mega-corporations allowed to brutally enslave a blind unquestioning consumptariate.

We shall soon see for ourselves. :- )

Some related googled stuff:
IBM Smart Surveillance System (8/12/2005)

Chicago moving to ’smart’ surveillance cameras : September 21, 2004

opensocietyparadox.com

Public Video Surveillance: Is It An Effective Crime Prevention Tool?