deepgreen18 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
deepgreen18) wrote2008-09-29 05:39 pm
deepgreen18) wrote2008-09-29 05:39 pm
Entry tags:
Meet the Real World
I have a few things to talk about today. I read a book, finished it last night, in fact. It's called Little Brother. All about what might happen if we just kept going with the security vs. Bill of Rights craziness we have now. I feel almost scarred by reading it. It was well-written, a very thoughtful story, and the main things I take away from it are: 1) No matter what your cause, giving up doesn't work. Keep pounding away at a problem, attack it from every angle. That is how you win.
2) At the very last, I read the words "Surveillence doesn't give us security, privacy does." I'm paraphrasing, but that really made me think, "Why?" My answer is: security is about knowing that you are safe. To know that you are safe, you have to trust someone or something. People mostly trust locks or cameras to keep the bad guys out. It isn't really that effective against knowledgable and determined thieves or murderers, but that is what we trust. It used to be (and maybe it still is) in smaller towns/neighborhoods that people trusted their neighbors. They knew and trusted other people not to steal from them or kill them, and even to warn them of potential threats. Now, the anonymity of the city is something to be prized, and so we depend on locks. Perhaps this is a bit negative towards city folk. Honestly, though, I felt safer at home alone when I was 16 and living out in the country than I do now in my not-so-soundproof apartment in a mid-sized city.
In any case, I read a book, and it changed me just a little. That is unusual. My usual book fare is fantasy, something not so very present.
Oh yeah, there was something else. I have an analogy for you. "Keep on the ball." Well, the last two days? I dropped the ball on some sharp objects, and now I have to stop, repair it, and in general live with it until its done. The whole situation is scarily reminiscent of New Orleans, except no car trouble. I lost my braces, and my phone got wet and is shutting itself down. Sigh. Oddly, they are about equal in stress level.
Now, off I go. Balls to patch (maybe I'll just buy a new one).
Greeny
2) At the very last, I read the words "Surveillence doesn't give us security, privacy does." I'm paraphrasing, but that really made me think, "Why?" My answer is: security is about knowing that you are safe. To know that you are safe, you have to trust someone or something. People mostly trust locks or cameras to keep the bad guys out. It isn't really that effective against knowledgable and determined thieves or murderers, but that is what we trust. It used to be (and maybe it still is) in smaller towns/neighborhoods that people trusted their neighbors. They knew and trusted other people not to steal from them or kill them, and even to warn them of potential threats. Now, the anonymity of the city is something to be prized, and so we depend on locks. Perhaps this is a bit negative towards city folk. Honestly, though, I felt safer at home alone when I was 16 and living out in the country than I do now in my not-so-soundproof apartment in a mid-sized city.
In any case, I read a book, and it changed me just a little. That is unusual. My usual book fare is fantasy, something not so very present.
Oh yeah, there was something else. I have an analogy for you. "Keep on the ball." Well, the last two days? I dropped the ball on some sharp objects, and now I have to stop, repair it, and in general live with it until its done. The whole situation is scarily reminiscent of New Orleans, except no car trouble. I lost my braces, and my phone got wet and is shutting itself down. Sigh. Oddly, they are about equal in stress level.
Now, off I go. Balls to patch (maybe I'll just buy a new one).
Greeny