Civilization as we know it has always been coming to an end, just in different ways. We all have our own ideas about it and when it happened. I claim it started when domestic architects decided to get rid of the front porch and build decks in the back. The idea was more privacy for families because they could enjoy themselves without everyone knowing their business. That made sense, but it also worked in reverse. It began isolating us from one another, and in turn, isolation made us more suspicious of others.
For generations, people sat on their front porch, watching the world, and sometimes inviting friends or neighbors to join them. There was even a very established but informal rule. If someone was sitting on the porch with their chair facing forward, visitors were welcome. If it turned 90 degrees to the side, passers-by could say hello, but were expected to keep on moving unless invited to come up the steps. If someone had their back to the street it meant they wanted to be left alone, and don’t you dare acknowledge their presence.
Each front porch was an outpost for the neighborhood watch, and it worked well. Nothing got past an older person on their porch. Everyone understood that their movements and behavior were being noted, as would their language. For children, it meant any act of misbehavior would instantly be reported to their parents.
Of course, there were many times when it seemed that porch-sitters were old snoops who were invading our privacy. In small towns, despite the talk of being close-knit, sometimes it felt too close-knit and there was no real privacy.
But the front porch disappeared, and with it, our local safety and security system. In its place was even more invasive scrutiny. Little wonder that about a dozen years ago Video Ring Doorbell was introduced, with promises that it was more effective than security cameras. Over the years it was upgraded. New models could rotate and track people and cars; the sound system was improved; and all of the information could be forwarded to a computer or smart phone. In some cases, people signed up with a security company to monitor the video. Law enforcement loved this new, relatively easy access to crime scenes.
About the same time, with the increased use of ‘smart phones,’ as we traveled we entered and left one cell phone tower after another, our movements could easily be tracked. A few years ago companies began promoting Faraday Pouches for our devices. Once secured inside the pouch, at least in theory, we would have our freedom from telephone calls and texts. Supposedly, our phone would not give away the details of our location and movements. Law enforcement and others objected to the Faraday Pouches because tracking our movements helped keep us “safe.”
In the very recent past, two new and somewhat murky electronic phenomenon have crept into our life. The first are the huge ‘data centers’ that are popping up across the country, including here in Allegan County. The argument is that the nation needs them because of the rapid growth in AI or Artificial Intelligence. That may be true, but there is also the legitimate concern that these centers may be storing and tracking us such as never before.
The second factor is what we have come to call “Flock Cameras” that scoop up vehicle license numbers and can aid in tracking a person’s movement. The companies smile and tell us it is for our own safety and security, and the cameras and data centers are there for our own good. The true believers in ‘safety at all costs’ look fondly at the UK where Flock Cameras are joined with Facial Recognition Vehicles who capture photographs and identities of everyone on the street.
Perhaps one question we should ask: Were we now safer than in the past, or simply more paranoid? We might also ask about our comfort level of being constantly monitored and tracked. Are we really willing to give up our reasonable expectations of privacy and our Constitutional rights for what we are told is for our own good? You and I cannot walk down the streets of most large US cities without constantly being tracked by surveillance cameras. If that what we want for our future?
There is nothing new about tracking individuals, and sometimes we are our own worst enemy. Sign up for a discount on your auto insurance might save you money, but all of your driving will be monitors and tracked by a device attached to your vehicle. It is ‘for your own good,’ we are told, but the data may go well beyond the insurance company. A number of my friends have ‘smart watches’ which they use to track the number of steps they take each day, the food intake and more. Supposedly it is for self-monitoring and improvement, but the information zooms off to the “cloud.” Cloud sounds so nice because it brings to mind big fluffy clouds in the sky. Really, it is a data center where it is compiled and a dossier is created.
The list is seemingly endless, including all of your on-line orders, all of your non-cash payments, and almost everything else. How is your comfort level with all of this personal information being recorded?
In many ways this is just a very up-dated version of the minute record keeping the East German secret police, the Stassi, kept on their fellow citizens. From 1945 until the night the Berlin Wall came down, more and more information was vacuumed up.
In their case, they had so much information, the system was breaking down. But that is cold comfort, because this was before the modern computer era. When their offices closed down, the agents left behind millions of pages of documents compiled by the snitches. Sorting it all out kept them busy for years.
When I mentioned to someone that I was going to write this piece on cameras, data banks, and gathering personal information, her voice was a bit hesitant and tight. “Aren’t you worried that someone might not like it?” I explained that I’ve written lots of articles where at least one person didn’t like it, so no, I wasn’t worried. She counted, “But this time it might be different.”
Yes, it might, but I am not worried about a couple of toughs in fedoras and black leather trench coats turning up at the door to hustle me into a black vehicle, with a one-way ticket to Siberia. Sorry, I meant International Falls in northern Minnesota.
But what does concern me is some news that popped up for a short time a week ago, and then quickly disappeared. It seems that some AI techies wrote a program that instructed their AI to break out of their own firewall, and then break through the firewall of another AI. They said they were just testing the security and strength of the systems.
Now, that is spooky because we have no idea where they can lead, but I have a sinking feeling that this story does not have a happy ending. Pandora’s Box has been opened and the Genie is out of the bottle. Maybe what we need to preserve what is left of our civilization is one good, really big, solar flare.
