Boing Boing: News crew discovers 40 cell-phone tracking devices operating around Washington D.C.
Activist Post: State sets massive precedent, passes law to effectively ban the NSA
Bloomberg: The U.S. Army is turning to robot soldiers
McClatchyDC: Pasteurization without representation? Kentucky lawmaker wants to boost raw milk
FEE: California (hopefully) learns a lesson about marijuana taxes and the Laffer Curve
Denver Post: Denver police draw guns on charter school staff member in class during search for absent student
Zero Hedge: How the FBI and CIA restarted the Cold War to protect themselves
Tech Crunch: Are algorithms hacking our thoughts?
The Sun: Your future home will be able to detect your moods and if you’re hungry Ed: I remain unconvinced that this future must be inevitable, where our every appliance, including our car and home, anticipates and satisfies every need or discomfort, with virtually no input of our own. Rather than an advance in technology, this focus on “connected” homes, cars, appliances, etc., feels like more of a detour from the practical application of science and engineering rather than the . Social media and new gadgets feel more like ‘bread and circuses’ used to siphon and exploit the data we produce daily rather than real technological advance. It’s not neo-Luddism to oppose new and more insidious ways to slurp up our personal choices and lives. The companies comprising “Big Tech” are really any but, with virtually every company being nothing more than glorified surveillance outfits that gather, and then sell, our data. The danger is the confluence of factors that are combining to create the most far-reaching surveillance state that’s ever existed.
“Connectedness”, convenience, instant gratification, social validation, are what these companies are selling, not the future. The important point to always remember is that it won’t be your home that will be taking care of your every need, it will be Google, or Amazon, or whichever company is behind the new “smart house” that’s draining your autonomy and self-reliance.
