. It's got deeply society-altering implications, and I'm not sure I dig all of them very much, but they're implicit in the very existence of cheap, small cameras, wireless data transmission, and nearly free digital storage. (Similarly, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of strategic bombing of cities, but it's implicit in a world where monkeys can fly.)In a society where everything is recorded and stored, privacy is dead, but so is the whole notion of "he said, she said," disputes, since what was actually said can always be retrieved. "Go to the data center and call up the files for Citizen Zimmerman and Citizen Martin." Creepy, and it will likely alter the very foundations of society in the probably-less-distant-than-I-hope future.
19 comments:
Mostly agreed, though one group I think ABSOLUTELY should be being filmed all the time are on-duty police officers. When one party in the he-said/she-said dispute gets to put the other party in jail, that party ought to have greater accountability.
I agree. And they will be the first (and already are in some jurisdictions.)
And how long before Joe Citizen wants his own record to enter into evidence alongside Officer Friendly's?
I say Politicians should be recorded but since they don't acknowledge reality it would be pointless.
Not quite pointless, Stretch. Maybe the pols in question won't feel much from a kiss from the clue by four of reality, but their constituents might take that anger to the polls. Even if a given pol won't change his tune, we can still bludgeon his career to death, or have fun trying. He might keep spouting drivel after losing his reelection bid, but he'll dribble in front of a smaller audience.
"And how long before Joe Citizen wants his own record to enter into evidence alongside Officer Friendly's?"
I already want it, or at least the option.
I would prefer a society that is less litigious. Or may AFV did not exist.
The number of police video recorders that malfunctioned, or did not have a tape/DVD/RAM inserted correctly, or had a dead bug over the lens, on the very day of a highly suspicious incident happening, is quite unsurprising.
And the number of citizen cellphones seized by police "as evidence" then returned sans memory card without any record of the video contained thereon, is likewise unsurprising.
Clear, hard daylight is a powerful disinfectant and should be used even in the darkest hours.
While it would be nice if "he said/she said" disputes could be done away with, although I don't think it would be worth the cost, I'm afraid that would make no difference if there's another Zimmerman/Martin type of dustup. Tribalism would probably trump adherence to the civilized order.
Al Sharpton would still show up, and there would still be riots, is what I mean. We could know without a doubt that some inflammatory act was justified, the foundations of society having been altered (not to our benefit) and there would still be riots.
Mike James
If I were a police officer I would buy one with my own money, just as I would a vest and gun if the department didn't.
In fact, even if the department did.
Maybe especially if the department did.
I'm not and I plan to.
Society could be less litigious if judges would start telling lawyers to stop wasting their time with frivolous lawsuits, and fine them big time for bringing them in the first place.
"You're suing him because why? Uh-huh. GET OUT OF MY COURTROOM. And see the baliff on your way out to pay the stupidity fine. Case dismissed, with predjudice. Next case? Bueller?"
I strongly resemble one of 'those people'. I drive a shitty car, I live in a shitty neighborhood, I don't own any new clothes.
I am, and look, screamingly poor.
Amazingly, a large number of police seem to take this as a lisence to treat me like shit, unless I lather on the ass kissing like tammy faye baker used to lather on the makeup.
Grovelling hat-in-hand to some smug little bastard half my age with a sense of entitlement that would crush a rhino pisses me off.
having a small camera that takes pictures the cops can't 'lose' would be a wonderful thing. Especially video with sound.
Fuzzy, I agree, but the problem is some frivolous law suits clean up pretty well and look good in a suit. Sadly it takes a whole round of demurrers and/or depositions and a Motion for Summary Judgment to boot the case, and judges, being politically connected lawyers*, are loathe to deny someone his day in court.
Society holds lawyers in low repute, and it holds politicians in low repute. Since a judge is a lawyer who knows a politician and has some political skills himself, like some sort of double-negative, such a lawyer becomes a judge and is thereafter respected for his opinions on other people's problems.
My first thought on seeing Google Glass was of the "gargoyle" gear worn by the protagonist (pun intended) in Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" ca. 1992. Are we there yet?
I wonder if Cops can be glassholes.
Maybe instant access to the actual legal statutes?
Cmonster, I think you mean the anonymous "gargoyle" in Snowcrash, a stringer for the CIA. He wasn't a major character by any means.
Larry, while you are correct, so is cmonster. Hiro turns himself into a gargoyle shortly before his assault on the carrier, much to the dismay of Y.T. but it doesn't last long.
Other than the _Snowcrash_ gargoyles mentioned above, there are also examples in Greg Bear's _City of Angels_ and David Brin's _Earth_ where personal and commercial (think ATMs) video was available for tracking and confirmation of movements. The two models were vastly different and interesting in their own ways.
Snow Crash? Kids these days. David Drake saw it comin', back in the day.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacey_and_His_Friends>Lacey and his friends</a>
Clicky.
Alibi archives can be made to work, provided the archive is stored beyond the reach of the government that has jurisdiction over where you live.
It stays private that way, until you need to rebut an official acting badly.
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