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    • C
      cooldud
      last edited by
      C
      spiral
      cooldud
      spiral

      I just read this article: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/23/tech/web/eric-schmidt-google-book/index.html.
      It is a nice and thought-provoking read. There are some parts of those predictions that are already playing out. The biggest example is the Arab Spring from a couple of years ago, well documented at each step on these forums, where common people coalesced and shared information on the digital medium to effect sweeping social and political change. Some of the privacy concerns are also very pertinent, and this paragraph stands out in particular:

      "Since information wants to be free, don't write anything down you don't want read back to you in court or printed on the front page of a newspaper, as the saying goes. In the future, this adage will broaden to include not just what you say and write, but the websites you visit, who you include in your online network, what you 'like,' and what others who are connected to you say and share."

      This, in particular, is encouraging a culture of paranoia, wherein everyone is second guessing every move. It is one of the reasons I have actively started reducing my digital footprint. With the lines of privacy blurring and every keystroke and mouse click being traced back to a face, your future employer, your future spouse, your child's future school might look with disapproval at a forum post you made in jest ages ago.

      On the other hand, this will immensely help in profiling future criminals and terrorists, although there will be ethical questions about that. Are you willing for a machine to scan through your email if it prevents attacks like Boston from happening in the future?

      The future is exciting. Lives all over the world are changing. These are exciting times to be alive in. It's a brave new world.
      Thoughts?

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      • Foolio
        Foolio
        admin
        last edited by
        Foolio
        spiral
        Foolio
        admin
        spiral

        Eh, I didn't find it terribly thought-provoking. A lot of it is common sense, and all the issues around online privacy are already being questioned at every possible practical, ethical, and legal level. You omitted the paragraph directly above the one in your quote, which paints that prediction in the context of accidental or hacking-related incidents. So it's not like they are saying in the future your online activities will be transparent, just that the more you do online, the more potential it is for someone to (unethically) expose it. And well, that's a thing of the present, really. Sure, as technology progresses even further it might become even more widespread and reach its tendrils into more aspects of our private lives, but it's not a yet-to-materialized issue.

        I also think the section about news outlets is flat-out wrong.
        @Article:

        News organizations will find themselves out of the breaking-news business, as it becomes impossible to keep up with the real-time nature of information sources like Twitter.

        Like, just no. When it comes to news, Twitter and other social media venues are CRAWLING with rumors, misinformation, lies, predictions/estimates passed as truth, unreliable sources, inconsistency, etc. Even if you have the attention span of a goldfish or have a thing for 2-sentence posts written in teenage-speak, you simply are not going to get great information. Most big news organizations already have extensive websites, and most of them get updated in virtually real time as information comes in about stories. The difference (with any decent one) is, they fact check. Sources are listed, unconfirmed information is cited as such, and a layer of professionalism comes on top of it all. Trustworthy, single-point-of-entry organizations have incredible value. Plus, in-depth articles and analyses will never be replaced by rapid Tweets, and those also get written fast enough to still count as "breaking news." So yeah, I think this one was full of shit…

        I actually think the only item on the list that was actually interesting was the prediction that online privacy would be taught in schools just like sex ed. I don't know if I actually envision that happening as a formal curriculum so to speak, but the topic does touch on a lot of important issues like privacy, harassment, and breaking the law, all of which show up in school lessons sometime or another.

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        • TheCrystalShip
          TheCrystalShip
          last edited by
          TheCrystalShip
          spiral
          TheCrystalShip
          spiral

          I remember in sex ed, they taught us how to trace somebody's home address using their Myspace profile (it was that long ago).

          valiantt 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • valiantt
            valiantt @TheCrystalShip
            @TheCrystalShip last edited by
            valiantt
            spiral
            valiantt
            spiral

            @TheCrystalShip:

            I remember in sex ed, they taught us how to trace somebody's home address using their Myspace profile (it was that long ago).

            They taught you how to become stalkers in sex ed? Isn't that…um counter intuitive for some of the creepier students?

            Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pomeranianhero

            deviantart: http://pomeranianhero.deviantart.com/

            TheCrystalShip 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • TheCrystalShip
              TheCrystalShip @valiantt
              @valiantt last edited by
              TheCrystalShip
              spiral
              TheCrystalShip
              spiral

              @valiantt:

              They taught you how to become stalkers in sex ed? Isn't that…um counter intuitive for some of the creepier students?

              Kind of,
              but it was meant to be a cautionary example of how cyber-pedos can find you. This was back when "To Catch a Predator" was a big thing.

              valiantt 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • valiantt
                valiantt @TheCrystalShip
                @TheCrystalShip last edited by
                valiantt
                spiral
                valiantt
                spiral

                @TheCrystalShip:

                Kind of,
                but it was meant to be a cautionary example of how cyber-pedos can find you. This was back when "To Catch a Predator" was a big thing.

                Since you put it that way…yeah that does make sense. Kids around that age (and a fair share of adults) are stupid enough to reveal all their personal information online. DERP

                It is probably best to show how creepers can use that information to their advantage to stalk folks around. I've never had that problem, but apparently it is something that one should be aware of to keep all the khainis of the world from digging up info on your person.

                Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pomeranianhero

                deviantart: http://pomeranianhero.deviantart.com/

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                • Cruithne
                  Cruithne
                  last edited by
                  Cruithne
                  spiral
                  Cruithne
                  spiral

                  How are gonna keep track of all that information, though?

                  I can see if you're doing things like hacking or collecting CP, but there's no reason to follow most of us here on the internet.

                  C 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • C
                    cooldud @Cruithne
                    @Cruithne last edited by
                    C
                    spiral
                    cooldud
                    spiral

                    A very good talk expounding on the power of algorithms and machines they run on: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120528-how-algorithms-shape-our-world. Talks about finance, predictive algorithms and the like. It touches upon the ominous reality of such algorithms, they are becoming powerful enough to outstrip human intervention. I've known this for a while since I loosely track the world of algorithmic trading.

                    Now to respond to some of the discussion.

                    @Foolio:

                    Eh, I didn't find it terribly thought-provoking. A lot of it is common sense, and all the issues around online privacy are already being questioned at every possible practical, ethical, and legal level. You omitted the paragraph directly above the one in your quote, which paints that prediction in the context of accidental or hacking-related incidents. So it's not like they are saying in the future your online activities will be transparent, just that the more you do online, the more potential it is for someone to (unethically) expose it. And well, that's a thing of the present, really. Sure, as technology progresses even further it might become even more widespread and reach its tendrils into more aspects of our private lives, but it's not a yet-to-materialized issue.

                    The name of the game here is automation. With advances in technology (thanks Moore's Law), it is becoming easier to write scripts and software to automate tasks which were done manually. For instance, and I might be wrong here, some of the software breaking the first captchas came in not long after the captchas themselves came out. In such a scenario, information of the state-of-the-art of the 'enemy' is essential. The point here is also that there is a huge dissonance between what people consider secure and what is actually secure. Most of the fancy hacking is really nothing but poor security or someone lucking out after trying a '1234' password. I remember reading an article once about how people choose very common attributes for their passwords (their own names, or some permutation thereof, and others) and how these comprise a large number of passwords out there.

                    @Foolio:

                    Like, just no. When it comes to news, Twitter and other social media venues are CRAWLING with rumors, misinformation, lies, predictions/estimates passed as truth, unreliable sources, inconsistency, etc. Even if you have the attention span of a goldfish or have a thing for 2-sentence posts written in teenage-speak, you simply are not going to get great information. Most big news organizations already have extensive websites, and most of them get updated in virtually real time as information comes in about stories. The difference (with any decent one) is, they fact check. Sources are listed, unconfirmed information is cited as such, and a layer of professionalism comes on top of it all. Trustworthy, single-point-of-entry organizations have incredible value. Plus, in-depth articles and analyses will never be replaced by rapid Tweets, and those also get written fast enough to still count as "breaking news." So yeah, I think this one was full of shit…

                    This I agree with completely. Some of the idiotic rumors floating around on Twitter-verse in the immediate aftermath of major events (think of the poor Indian student who was 'implicated' shortly after the Boston bombing) is cringe-worthy at best, libellous at worst.

                    @Foolio:

                    I actually think the only item on the list that was actually interesting was the prediction that online privacy would be taught in schools just like sex ed. I don't know if I actually envision that happening as a formal curriculum so to speak, but the topic does touch on a lot of important issues like privacy, harassment, and breaking the law, all of which show up in school lessons sometime or another.

                    Again, I agree. If not a part of the curriculum, everyone should invest some time into getting some knowledge of some basic security safeguards one can take to protect their privacy and personal information.

                    @Cruithne:

                    How are gonna keep track of all that information, though?

                    I can see if you're doing things like hacking or collecting CP, but there's no reason to follow most of us here on the internet.

                    As I wrote earlier, with increasing raw processing power and storage capacity, automated algorithms and scripts can easily keep track of your movements online passively and create a digest of "Cruithne's top hits". Email clients already passively go through your email, search engines track your search history and browsers track your browsing history. Right now they do it to display the best fit ads to you. But with services like Google Now, which uses this information to intelligently predict data to show to you on your smartphone home screen, it can be argued that online programs are getting sophisticated enough to do more with your information.
                    It does sound a little creepy.

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                    • C_uggs
                      C_uggs
                      last edited by
                      C_uggs
                      spiral
                      C_uggs
                      spiral

                      As a librarian, I HAVE to work with information, and I deal with a highly demand of information everyday, mainly born from the internet. How can people work with this daily avalanche of information ? How can someone organize and provide this information to people who seeks knowledge ?

                      Well, a person who seeks information, needs to find reliable sources. Because, if this person seeks information only to know, they need the right information and in the right time.

                      But if I person wants to know and being able to understand the subject, I highly doubt that "instant information sites" can satiate those needs. They have, first to acknowledge that there is a new information in a site ( like twitter), then, search for books or others midias of information that can teach this person in a deep way..

                      But people in this days don´t have time to study over a new information…they just want to have it.

                      OT:

                      People that venture in the internet, needs to know where they going. Every information you put in the internet, someone can see it.

                      This can create a state of paranoia, create a unsafe place to post.
                      and of course. Every good side has a bad side. So you can think "WOW, I can learn things in the internet", but there is the "people are watching me over the internet" kind of reality

                      The key is: Don´t be so extreme about things.

                      When AP used to be good:

                      NEVER FORGET !!

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