Foreword to _1984_ "surveillance of ordinary citizens"

[Dave Monroe]

But do see as well David Brin, "The Transparent
Society" (1996) ...

   "But no matter how many bills are passed, the
arrival of such implements in our towns and cities
will not be much delayed. The rich, the powerful, and
figures of authority will have them, whether legally
or surreptitiously. The contraptions are going to
spread. And they will get smaller, faster, cheaper,
and smarter with each passing year. 
   "Moreover, surveillance cameras are the tip of the
proverbial iceberg. Just another entrancing and
invasive innovation of the information age. Other
examples abound.

[...]

   "In fact, it is already far too late to prevent the
invasion of cameras and databases. The djinn cannot be
crammed back into the bottle. No matter how many laws
are passed, it will prove quite impossible to
legislate away the new tools and techniques. They are
here to stay. Light is going to shine into every
aspect of our lives. 
   "The real issue facing citizens of a new century
will be how mature adults choose to live - how they
might compete, cooperate, and thrive - in such a
world. A transparent society. 
   "Regarding those cameras for instance [...] we can
see that very different styles of urban life resulted
from just one decision. From how people in each town
answered the following questions: Will average
citizens share, along with the mighty, the right to
these universal monitors? Will common folk have, and
exercise, a sovereign power to watch the watchers? 

[...]

   "There is nothing new in this, of course. All
previous generations faced quandaries, the outcomes of
which changed history. When Thomas Jefferson
prescribed a revolution every few decades, he spoke
not only politically but about the constant need to
remain flexible, ready to adapt to changing
circumstances - to innovate at need, while at the same
time staying true to those values we hold unchanging
and precious. 
   "Our civilization is already a noisy one for
precisely that reason - because we have chosen freedom
and mass sovereignty, which means that the citizenry
itself must constantly argue out all the details,
instead of leaving them to some committee of sages. 
   "What differs today is not only the pace of events,
but also our toolkit for facing the future. 
   "Above all, what marks our civilization as
different has been its knack for applying one
extremely hard-won lesson from the past: 
   "In all of history, there has been only one cure
for error discovered, one partial antidote against
making grand, foolish mistakes. One remedy against
self-deception. 
   "That antidote is criticism.

[...]

   "One of the basic decisions we all face in times
ahead will be this: 
   "Can we stand living our lives exposed to scrutiny
... our secrets laid out in the open ... if in return
we get flashlights of our own, that we can shine on
the arrogant and strong? 
   "Or is privacy's illusion so precious that it is
worth any price, including surrendering our own right
to pierce the schemes of the powerful?
   "There are no easy answers, but asking questions
can be a good first step."

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/fftransparent_pr.html

http://www.kithrup.com/brin/tschp1.html

Me, I'm not so sanguine, and certainly not so
optimistic, but again, centrifugal vs. centripetal ...

--- Malignd <malignd at yahoo.com> wrote:
> <<WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is developing an urban
> surveillance system that would use computers and
> thousands of cameras to track, record and analyze
> the
> movement of every vehicle in a foreign city.>>
> 
> [...] the camera, a development that promises social
> control on a scale those quaint old 20th-century
> tyrants with their goofy moustaches could only dream
> about.[...]
> 
> --Thomas Pynchon, Foreword to _1984_

With a slight aleration, of course, but one that
hardly negates points either of you--Doug,
MalignD--are trying to make.  Centrifugal AND
centripetal ...

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