While the technology that we have today is absolutely amazing, some aspects of it can be truly terrifying. While reading the article "You're Leaving a Digital Trail," I was impressed by how tracking certain activities can lead to important research. It made me think of the personal advertising that companies now use. By tracking a person's activities online, sites like Facebook can tailor their ads to your life. While this is quite helpful to the companies that produce the ads, I find it creepy. Advertisements that relate a little too much to your life start appearing as you surf the internet, and it makes me wonder how much people can know about me from just this simple act.
This article made me think a lot about Little Brother and how the abuse of this tracking power is very possible. Much like the GPS units in our cars and phones, the characters in the book had ways that they could be tracked. The government abused the power they had to "keep the country safe." One line in particular in this article reminded me of this and made me a little uneasy. Referring to the SARS epidemic, it was brought up that phone records could have been monitored and the problem could have been stopped sooner. The man promoting this idea said, "I'm sorry, that trumps minute concerns about privacy." This made me think about the ridiculous lengths that the government in Little Brother went to while securing the safety of its citizens. The question this raises is how much should organizations, such as the government or even advertisement agencies, regard privacy? When should privacy be overlooked and how far is too far?
I could not agree more. When I am on facebook, ads for all of my favorite bands, movies and even pictures of pugs fill up the sidebar of ads! It kind of creeps me out, because I don't even think I mentioned anything about liking pugs except for in my statuses. It just creeps me out, I know they're trying to sell me stuff but how did they get my information in the first place?
ReplyDeleteA lot of good points here. I kept thinking of those new tracking devices you can put on your kid and turn on if they get lost. Sounds like a good idea, but it's also a little creepy. As for your Little Brother connection, so true. Yes, we want to be protected from possible terrorist attacks and the like, but where do we draw the line and what is to really keep the government from crossing said line? As of right now, the law does, but as we all know that constantly changes. It's really kind of scary when you really think about it.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way, I feel like people could keep using the end to justify the means the way they did in Little Brother and I hope that things never get that bad in this country. I like the fact that the new technologies can be used for researchers, but I don't think advertisers should have access to that much personal information about our lives. It also makes me think about the "friends you may know" tab on facebook. How much information does facebook have about our lives and interests? It's scary to think about...
ReplyDelete