2020: The future of surveillance
Imagine a world where …- every single one of your activities outside your home was monitored on closed-circuit cameras- your computer’s ip address was fixed, allowing anyone to track your activity and making your computer a hot property for thieves wanting to hide their identity- all monetary currency has disappeared and your electronic transactions are all tracked, unless you pay extra to "scrub" your transaction- you will be required by law to wear an identity transponder at all times so that you can be readily identified- your insurance company is able to monitor the groceries you buy and what you consume in a restaurant in order to charge higher rates to subscribers who eat junk foodsThese are just some of the predictions forecast in DM News by Robert Gellman, a Washington-based privacy and information policy consultant and former chief counsel to the U.S. House subcommittee on information, justice, transportation and agriculture.2020 is just 13 years away – how close are we to living in the world that Gellman predicts?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wow, that's crazy. As you can see we have a lot wrong with the policies in this country and the people making the policies! If they can do this, why aren't they doing this for criminals that are let out of jail and are on parole? It seems that this would be good for them. A lot of criminals end up committing more crimes when released. This would be a great way to keep track of them.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that something like this will be passed in the next eleven years. We a citizens have rights. Our privacy is one of them. Video cameras on the streets to protect citizens is one thing, but being monitored every minute of every day is another. We also have enough problems with our health care system and insurance companies refusing to pay for needed procedures, this will only make it worse. People working for the insurance companies who are not doctors refusing payment is bad enough. What is this country coming to. We need to take a good look at the policies in our countries and decide what is right and wrong.
I have to agree with Debbie, this is crazy! The insurance companies have enough problems keeping track of their claims and not being able to file them properly and arguing with the patient about what is a work-related injury and what is not-- add to that someone who monitors a person’s eating and buying habits and making a decision on coverage is unbelievable! This just created a more paranoid society.
ReplyDeleteInsurance companies being able to charge you more because of what you eat-- that is ridiculous. The only thing I like about survaillance is that when people get abducted there would be an extremely likely chance that the abductor will be caught on tape.
ReplyDeleteI can see a lot of things going wrong with this. However, i find it pretty interesting. They should track the people who are abusing the systems, such as some people on welfare or some people collecting unemployment. It should be used for useful things, not people's eating habits.
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty scary but also pretty cool. I would probably feel a lot safer being outside at night if I knew the streets were monitored, but on the other hand I can see it being a deadly thing. It could be that I watch to many episodes of Dateline on ID, but this could definitly be abused by the wrong people!
ReplyDeleteI don't like this on bit. Its bad enough i over pay for insurance today, now they want to charge me more because i eat junk food. Plus if i wanted my every move watched i would go on one of those horrible reality shows
ReplyDeletewhat do you mean the future i already thought it was. i mean we have enough sattleites to do it with. soon as your red flagged your done.
ReplyDeleteWhenever you leave the house, you are already subject to a form of surveillance. Even if you are in your house, if all of the curtains aren't closed, you could be being watched. Anyway, as the conspiracy theorist that I am, this would merely save a lot of money for insurance companies from having to hire people to watch them.
ReplyDeleteI would somewhat have to agree with the computer, but if you go out on the Internet, that is the equivalent of stepping outside your house.
If you truly want a private life, find a way to sustain yourself within the house. Make sure you don't do anything that looks suspicious (too late for that really); otherwise the police will bust in with a search warrant.
As it stands, this was the predictable future.
That is intense. Its scrary to think that things coul be like this one day or be like George orwells book 1984. Laws and stuff are great but its crazy to think how out of control things can get. Now adays if someone's not making money off of it its illegle its hard to do anything as it is.
ReplyDeleteYea this whole subject is crazy. I saw a documentary on something having to do with comparison of our country to the state of Germany before the whole Nazi revolution. It may be a bit “out of whack” but one of the more important issues was the whole idea of “red flagging” and excessive surveillance on individuals who didn’t quite cope with society.
ReplyDeleteLaura, I hope you mean that welfare recipients and unemployment recipients that are known abusers of the systems should be tracked and you do not mean that all welfare recipients should be tracked simply because they don’t have the money to feed their family. This system might great parole offices in that it would make their job easier. However, I don’t see us as that far away. Stores already track our purchases when we use those super saver cards.
ReplyDeleteI think this all steams from our need to feel safe. By people needing to feel safe, they have choosen to give up their privacy...Patriot Act, anyone?
I believe that anything dealing with homeland security, I am all for it. It doesnt matter if it messes with our rights, I believe our safety comes first.
ReplyDeleteUsing surveillance to watch people eating habits it's a waste. This should be used to watch and record criminals. There are so many things happening in the world today that who has the time to watch peoples eating habits. More and more people are feeling the need to feel safe I think this would be a way of feeling safe and not discriminated against because of what we eat.
ReplyDeletethis is horrible to think about but in a world where there are a few bad apples ruining it for the rest of us it can be hard to argue
ReplyDeleteIt's very Orwellian, but it's a very plausible future.
ReplyDeleteMuch more plausible than the ones preached to me by playing 80's videogames, where ROBOT MASTERS would have enslaved us all by now.
there are cameras everywhere weather you see them or not
ReplyDeleteI believe that people need to be aware and cautious of their activities outside of their home. It is life in this technological world we live in.
ReplyDeleteAt this point I am ready to move to either the UK or Canada. What is the point of an insurance company...so they can take your money? Anymore its such a scam. For anyone who hasn't seen the Michael Moore film "Sicko", please do. It will open your eyes to the true healthcare crisis that we are facing.
ReplyDeleteAnything in regards to keeping people safe should be a no.1 priority. If cameras help get that done then lets get them installed.
ReplyDeletesounds like the movie minority report mixed with orrsen well's 1981 and big brother. I see things going somewhat in this direction, other than the currency. While its a nice idea, people will never move to get rid of all paper currency. Look at the economy now, and how much do people trust the banking systems? I would say not enough to move all of their funds to an electronic system. The concept is great in terms of reducing theft/robbery, no more tax forms to fill out (it would all be automatic), and a central tracking system for individuals to view. The downfalls are enormous when you look at how others can track your spending, extortion would be through the roof. I for one would never vote for such a system.
ReplyDelete