The panopticon is a concept that was first introduced to me back in high school in an English class when we read 1984 and how it was used on the citizens to monitor their behavior. It sounded like a really effective tool to make sure citizens never forgot that Big Brother was constantly watching their every move. The article about the The New Panopticon being used in relation to the Internet is an interesting idea. The thought of the Internet and people monitoring its use is something that I do not much think about, but the fact is that technology today constantly is being used to watch our every move especially when it has to do with media. Recently, there has been a fuss about the Apple iPhone tracking users, and the GPS function being put to good use in keeping tabs on where its users are going throughout their daily lives. It is hard to wrap my head around what exactly this could mean for us going forward. This article laid out the groundwork and details in a way that is easy to understand and answers common questions that people might have after learning about this news. Steve Jobs mentions that their is potential for hackers to infiltrate the Apple software and use this encrypted information for malicious reasons.
I think that this software is inherently good for most people including myself. I like being able to use the GPS function in relation to Google maps in order to find directions to places I seek to go. Obviously, bad scenarios can come into play, nothing is 100% fail safe. But, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages in my opinion. In the big picture sense of it, this will not affect me very much at all. I feel that if The Wire was still around, this issue might be used as a plot device in trying to bust criminals in the seedy streets of Baltimore. Hopefully, it would not be as easy as one of the drug dealers forgetting to turn off the location services on his iTouch, but it is certainly something that first comes to mind if implemented into the season narrative.
No comments:
Post a Comment