As if the citizens of the US were not already over monitored by Internet companies, advertisers, phone companies, employers, authorities, cable companies, and oh yes those smart meters, it seems they are starting in on our kids too. Children are being introduced to surveillance on social networks and don’t seem to understand the problem, which makes sense, and by the time they grow up, they will have never lived in a time period that didn’t know everything they did.
In walks 1984, Gatica, Minority Report and Vannevar Bush’s concept of “recording a life” or life-log (read about Bell Labs and his concept). In the near future you don’t just have to worry about your smart phone spying on you, your car will too, every single device you own to simple your life will give away your every move. Your life is hereby recorded, deal with it? Now then, about our children, some say they shouldn’t expect privacy, and since they’ve never known it, why should they even care. Well, that’s just it, not only do they not care, they are growing old enough to vote.
Now then, there was an interesting privacy issue that came to my attention, yes, another one, an article titled; “California school district hires firm to monitor students’ social media,” by Michael Martinez, published on CNN on September 15, 2013. The school is doing this to prevent bullying, but I imagine in the future it will be used to see who posts during school hours to catch kids doing that, or even who logs in during school hours, from there it’s going to be a pre-conditioned reality of the next up and coming generation that “the authorities” have a right to look at your social media, and are at all times.
Judging by the movements of law enforcement, FBI, NSA, that’s already happening, your privacy no longer exists, how does that make you feel? Anyway, just think now in the event you are innocent yet suspected crime, all that surveillance is proof you didn’t do it. But if you do have tendencies to misbehaver those social media posts can convict you, be used against you or as I said, in some rare cases be used to prove you were not there and didn’t do it.
Some parents are saying they like the idea of the school checking up on their kids, why? Well, so they don’t have too, which means they are giving up some of their parenting responsibilities to the state (so to speak, actually just the school for now) but this is problematic because we already have a problem with parenting in our country. But that my friends is for another topic and article. Until then, please consider all this and think on it.
