Panopticon

The left hemisphere loves to grasp it and control it. Governments ruled by it seek total control. Talk of liberty as an abstract ideal (for Machiavellian reasons), meanwhile curtailing individual liberty. Every citizen on this planet is subject to some sort of governmental surveillance.

Panoptical control can become an end in itself, and CCTV monitoring and interception of private information the norm. For example, introducing DNA databases apparently in response to exceptional threats and circumstances (against which these measures would be largely ineffective), their true aim being the increase of the power of the state and playing down the status and responsibility of the individual (because the left hemisphere believes individuals are simply interchangeable (“equal”) parts of a mechanistic system, a system it needs to control in the interests of efficiency).

Many eyes (and ears)

Besides death and taxes, the one constant held in all our lives is surveillance. One can't even take an unobserved crap in the desert any more.

Overview

Dragnet surveillance

… a fishing technique of dragging a fishing net across the sea bottom, or through a promising area of open water …

"World"

Targeted surveillance

… surveillance that is targeted on “specific persons of interest” and distinguished from mass (dragnet) surveillance …

"Others"

Biometrics

… soon, all that is needed to monitor and control the system with all of the devices and its parts (including bodies) is biometric apps …

"Self"

Tracking

We have noticed a problem on the internet, and you have probably noticed it too. With its current business model, the internet is optimised for commercial interests, not the billions of end users. And this business is more than a little creepy.

Cookies, fingerprinting, and beacons

De-anonymisation

De-anonymisation alias re-identification. More and more governments and industries depend on it. The adversaries, possible attack vectors, the attacks, threats, assistive technologies, the possible uses, and if and where possible, what we can do.

Transparent intentions

Future

Big tech companies harvest our data on a massive scale, and exploit it for their own interests? Mobile devices and wearables travel with us everywhere we go, extracting and sharing data about our every move? Active control everywhere, and some behind our backs?

O Really?