Beware of...

Beware of… No but really.  Beware of what?  Normally when you hear that phrase you know not to cross a certain line whether it means staying out of someone’s backyard or just staying away from someone’s private property.  When we see that we know to beware.  We seem to be embarking into a time period where we are having to protect our privacy more and more because there are newer and easier ways for people to invade our privacy.  That’s what chapter two discussed.  As time passes our privacy seems to decrease and who is to blame?  I’d like to point my finger at technology.  Why might you ask?  Because, technology has allowed for me to create my digital self.  The self that I really want to be.  The self that can fool others.  Technology gives me the ability to share my information to whomever whenever.  Is that good?  I’d like to argue that there are positives and negatives to the issue at hand.  One particular thing that I did not think about but Chapter 2 of “The New Digital Age” by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen brought to mind was the fact that the new heights that we are reaching in technology could cause us to have more accountability and transparency in society.  They said “Citizen participation will reach an all-time high as anyone with a mobile handset and access to the internet will be able to play a part in promoting accountability and transparency.” (34)  Sounds good right?  But think about it, yes we will have this right, privilege and choice but dig a little deeper.  That means that the things which we thought were so private will no longer be.  What if at the click of a button someone could know every law you broke in the past hour?  They you would be forced to adhere to the consequences.  Would that be a society that you would want to live in?