iGURU!’s – Weekly Review – 8th September 2019 We are living in very interesting and exciting times. This week I saw a man pay for his shopping by tapping his wristwatch onto a card reader machine – maybe I'm old school – but I watched in fascination because it is still unknown and unfamiliar territory for me. I am sure that others who are clued up about this topic – namely, owners of the latest gadgets and technologies - and / or - well researched individuals - would probably look at me and say - ‘get with the times woman!’ - Well maybe so, but there’s a lot more happening with this technology than we may realise, in that - it is clearly shaping society - and indeed Human Consciousness, in ways that perhaps were not intended. For example most of the technology in your pocket has its origins in military research and military hardware (if you are interested in this subject - click here.) In a video I watched this week called ‘Is my phone listening to me?’ – they were discussing the implications of technologies that offer voice recognition facilities – namely smartphones and virtual assistant technologies such as ‘Amazon Alexa,’ ‘Amazon Echo,’ ‘Google Home’ etc… It is openly acknowledged that companies such as Apple, Google and Amazon (to name a few) have been using such technologies to gather information / data about its users. In the video it was said that these devices, even when they are not in use, they are still active, as they are listening for 'key words' (referred to in the video as the ‘wake word’) – I am horrified by this information - but it doesn’t stop there. The information / data that these devices collect are then processed / transcribed by individuals – who are then able to sell this data / information for all sorts of purposes to third parties. I find such activities alarming, since the provider of such information, namely you and I, were not fully informed as to the consequences and use of our information - and almost certainly have no idea what is happening with the our information and where it will ultimately end up. It seems that we are being ‘mined’ for our information – our very lives and existences have been commodotised and we have no say over this process – neither do we reap any significant financial reward. Can this be right? In another video I watched this week called - 'Users ‘should be aware’ technology is spying on us' – the presenter quoted the warning issued with Samsung Smart TV (which uses voice commands) – it said - “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party, through your use of voice recognition.” I find such open admissions of potential conduct by such companies quite startling. – In reality there is no balance since ‘big tech companies’ have a monopoly of the technology and thus there can be no ‘negotiation’ as to the terms of use. We are indeed presented with a ‘fait accompli.’ When it comes to such devices it is worth noting that when these technologies were first introduced to the public – it was not disclosed that these technologies would be ‘gathering,’ 'recording' and 'storing' our personal information / data. Thus, this activity has been conducted without the prior consent of the public. It is now coming to light that these companies have not only been collecting personal data of individuals, but are using their technology to manipulate public Consciousness for profit. In particular – in another video that I watched this week, Google was described as a ‘highly biased political machine,’ which purposely manipulates its algorithms to control what people see when they use the Google search engine. (To watch this video - click here.) In the movie ‘The Great Hack’ (which can be found on Netflix) – a participant in that movie, Brittany Kaiser stated - “data is the most valuable asset on the Earth” – this is a powerful statement – 'the personal data of individuals - is the most valuable asset on earth…?' - Who profits from this data? What is this data used for? Well it would seem that big companies, political parties and those associated with the ‘political machinery’ of government and politics - are currently profiting from the information / data that is gathered about individuals – and the gathered information / data is being used to manipulate members of the public - whether it be to vote for a particular political party – or to influence buyers on what goods and services they are to buy – consumer choice. Of course it all comes down to personal choice – some individuals will weigh up the pros and cons of using their technological devices and decide that using their device is more important than the implications (this was discussed in the video mentioned earlier - ‘Is my phone listening to me?’) I feel that the value of privacy has decreased significantly with the introduction of social media and modern technology. What is all this leading to and what are the issues, which we ought to be concerned about? I can think of 2 that concern me from the handful of videos that I’ve recently watched. One is the manipulation of Human Consciousness, in its most overt form it can be seen in the 'mining' of personal data, which is then used to manipulate individual choice / decisions - for profit by institutions and organisations. who are not accountable to anyone for their actions. There is also the issue of – how this technology is subtlety 'altering' and 'changing' Human Consciousness itself. It is clear that our interaction with these technological gadgets is not just ‘one way’ - and that the impact of such technologies clearly has a long lasting impact on our ‘thought processes,’ our ‘speech’ - and our ‘actions.’ These are significant consequences, which will have an impact not just on our societies and communities as they currently exist but almost certainly for generations to come. This is such a vast and important subject that I propose to deal with this in a separate review at some later point in time. Finally, on this subject ‘big tech,’ ‘information,’ ‘privacy’ and ‘society’ – there is the undeniable impact such technologies are having on the nature of the societies we all live in. A great deal of this technology has been and is being used not just to ‘profit’ from our daily activities, but also to surveil and monitor us. This surveillance is currently so extensive and so global in its reach, that it already exceeds the dire warnings of fiction expressed in such works as George Orwells 1984. His Orwellian dystopian nightmare vision of society through the potential of these technologies has already been exceeded – many of us are just not aware of it. The assault on individual liberty through the erosion of privacy in the guise of technology is therefore a serious concern. It would seem therefore, that we are already in the Age when the most valuable commodity is not ‘financial’ or ‘monetary’ - and cannot be measured with gold – since the most valuable commodity it seems now - is ‘Privacy.’ REFERENCES TO ARTICLES, VIDEOS ETC To view the contents of this index – click on the subject of interest below. ALPHABETICAL ORDER G - Google’s immunity must be stripped after leaks – Ben Swann (on Youtube 15-Aug2019) - This is how Google is spying on everything you do (on Youtube 6-Oct2018) M Mobile Phones - Is my phone listening to me? | The Stream (on Youtube 27-Aug2019) P Personal Data - DMV profiting off your personal data R References to other articles, videos etc related to the article – Modern Technology, Social Media & Society – Modern Technology & Society - Surveillance Society S Spying - Users ‘should be aware’ technology is spying on us (on Youtube 29-Aug2019) T The Great Hack - The Great Hack | Official Trailer | Netflix (on Youtube 11-Jul2019)
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