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Tag Archives: privacy
China Wants Change
According to this Forbes article, China’s sovereign wealth fund wants to buy a large enough chunk of Facebook, so that it can control its image abroad, as well as censor much of what the site already allows, because the People’s Republic of China is weary of social media and the freedom it propagates. Although the article is careful to mention that the fund would only be able to buy non voting stock, and that even a billion dollars worth of stock would be only about a hundredth percent of the total amount once the stock goes public, the idea of the article is clear: China wants to take away our social media freedom , and control us.
A Sassy Control Agent or a Smart Shopper?
As was apparent in the little bit of Foucault that we read in class, control and capitalism go hand in hand. The author of the article states that China figures that if it can buy its way into our social media, then it can control us. We owe China so much money that it practically owns us already, and now it wants to own our favorite pastime?
I don’t think that the Chinese sovereign wealth fund is all that interested in telling us Crazy Americans what to do. Maybe it just wants to be a bank and fulfill its wealth-making function, a la capitalism. I don’t think it’s possible for China to own us anymore than it already does. Anytime we feel threatened, we like to demonize the perceived threat, make it worse than it really is. Especially if we’re in control.
Are Microhips the Solution or the Problem?
With all the talk about surveillance we’ve done in this course, I figured this would be an appropriate clip to show. This clip (Microchip Implants) talks about how everything is becoming more digitized, and in a few years everyone will have chips implanted in them, which upon scanning will be able to divulge personal information, financial information, medical information, and basically your entire life in a single scan. It also discussed new facial recognition technology which police will be able to use to track criminals. Facebook actually introduced similar face recognition technology to a lot of negative criticism and privacy groups, because they felt it was a violation of peoples rights. The benefits that would come with such technologies would be tempting to anyone. Who wouldn’t want to have more affective methods of catching criminals (besides criminals themselves), the amount of man hours and money that would be saved would be phenomenal and all that money and time could be allocated towards other tasks, increasing overall productivity. How great would it be if people would no longer have to carry keys or cash and could just open and pay for everything with a finger swipe? Crimes like robbery would go way down and people’s general sense of security would rise. Of course there are the security issues, there are people who do not see the benefits of this technology and just view it as another method of government surveillance and tracking. All of that information could and probably would be stored somewhere, and could be potentially used against you, may it be something as innocent as advertising or something as sinister as blackmail.
Searching For Illness
It may not be brain scans, but it seems just as ridiculous. Jared Loughner, the man behind the January 8th shootings in Arizona that left 6 dead and 13 injured, is seeking the insanity plea in order to avoid trial. In May, he was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial and was placed in a psych ward, and now his lawyers are seeking a similar decision. In order to establish this, they have taken to digging deep into the lives of Mr. Loughner’s ancestors. They have subpoenaed the records of 22 of his relatives, dating back to 1893. Although two psychiatrists have diagnosed Mr. Loughner with schizophrenia, it would help the insanity plea if it could be established that mental illness runs in the Loughner family.
I have no issues with someone using the insanity plea. If someone is suffering from mental illness, a distinction should be made in their sentencing (ie. psych ward vs. prison). It seems to be a fact that Mr. Loughner has a troubled past, and from the media coverage it seems that he does in fact suffer from schizophrenia. However, I completely disagree with the use of deceased people’s medical records to prove mental illness in the family. It just seems too farfetched. I understand that mental illness is a viable defense in a criminal case but this just seems unnecessary and a violation of privacy. In the article, a law professor from Vanderbilt actually mentions that this is the most effective way of proving mental illness aside from having a “brain scan showing mental defect.” I think this is quite ironic being that both these options, in my opinion, are anything but effective.
