Surveillance Society

[Architect]

Another example of a delivery person caught throwing packages around. They got fired naturally, FedEx wants to show they're doing something and send a message to other employees in the company.

Interesting to see where we're going with this. Everybody has a camera and video recorder now, it's hard to get away from them, and now your public behavior can potentially become global. Of course ten years ago that person could have done the same thing and gotten away from it, because there was no proof and no way to easily disseminate the information. You could take the license plate number, go directly to FedEx and complain but who would do that? What would it get you?

Now with the internet it raises the bar on public behavior extraordinarily high. In a very real sense it is the 1984 society where we report on each other. Isn't that bad?

But aren't we just reporting behavior that anybody would consider bad? If the driver was caught picking her nose, well that's unfortunate but I don't think people would get too excited about it. In fact it wasn't long ago that UPS was famous for having crappy handling procedures, you'd commonly get packages that were completely beat up and the company didn't care. I don't think that is the case anymore, probably in part because of this kind of exposure.

Ultimately I think individual freedom is preserved, while this surveillance is directed at corporations mainly, which is a good thing. A video of some guy mistreating packages doesn't mean anything, but if it's a FedEx employee that will get attention.

 

[Cognisant]

I work in retail and when hundreds if not thousands of things go through your hands on a daily basis it's only natural to start "optimising" one's handling, and when moving stuff up a flight of stairs or from the ground floor to the raised area of a loading dock it's unstated procedure to throw stuff from one person to the next.

It can be amusing when there's multiple people throwing boxes in different directions, it's the worst circus act in the world

 

[John_Mann]

It's like you said, it's working against bad actions. But there's a lot of god actions getting viral too like this:

http://imgur.com/X0Nfw

 

[Thurlor]

I honestly don't know where I stand on the issue of a surveillance society. A part of me can't help but think it is infringing on the rights of the citizens, yet another part thinks 'so what' (no one is hurt).

The ultimate surveillance society I have ever read about would be that in the Neanderthal Parallax Trilogy be Robert J. Sawyer. Everyone wore a device (companion) that was constantly making a holographic recording of it's sorroundings. These recording were upload to a central databank where they were kept under strict security. Anyone could view their own recordings, but to view the recordings of another required their consent or a court order. Crime was almost non-existent.

Whilst it is a series of sci-fi novels I think it shows a way in which surveillance could be used for the benefit of all non-criminals.

 

[TimeAsylums]

Architect, when you embrace the singularity, won't it be the same?

Embrace the panopticon. They know what's best for you, they will make sure you are safe.

Any one ever read The Traveller Trilogy by John Twelve Hawks? <3

 

[Analyzer]

Yeah I would call it transparency society. Ultimately good for individual freedom as every individual will be made more aware of actions of groups or individuals. Legal plunder will not be as easy. I feel as if the digital world is basically making the world "flat" and we are exploring and discovering new ways of going about our ends.