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Locked on 07/20/2026 6:50:05 AM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
Search still works |
Posted on 07/20/2026 5:51:49 AM PDT by rlmorel
Trust is important. Verification is essential.
More than 2,000 years ago, the Roman poet Juvenal posed a timeless question: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? — “Who will guard the guards themselves?” or “Who watches the watchers?”
The Romans could never have imagined artificial intelligence, facial recognition, or nationwide networks of automated license-plate readers. Yet their question may be even more relevant today than it was three millennia ago.
Recent debate over Flock Safety cameras illustrates why.
The cameras have become an invaluable law enforcement tool. A stolen vehicle that crosses several jurisdictions can now be identified in minutes rather than days. An abducted child can sometimes be located before the child reaches another state.
Investigators can reconstruct a suspect's movements at speeds unimaginable only a generation ago. These advances are remarkable and save lives and solve crimes.
Few Americans would willingly return to the days when solving a crime depended solely on eyewitness accounts or grainy surveillance footage from convenience stores.
Yet reports have surfaced that individual officers allegedly used these systems to monitor former spouses, girlfriends, or acquaintances for purely personal reasons. If true, those actions are not an indictment of the technology or of law enforcement as a whole. They are a reminder of a far older truth: every concentration of power invites the possibility of abuse.
Technology doesn’t change human nature.
It amplifies it.
Throughout history, every transformative invention has brought both promise and peril...
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
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"...Technology doesn’t change human nature. It amplifies it..."
I just finished reading the Bible from cover to cover recently, and although it took me a long time (nearly two years...because I had to scale back my reading speed in an attempt to take it all in...when I read something interesting, I tend to speed up) it made one thing absolutely clear to me:
Fundamental human nature has not changed at all since creation. Many things have changed drastically and nearly unrecognizably. We may have changed social mores on a large scale (ie. Slavery is now widely considered to be a bad thing, even if it is still practiced in a variety of ways)
And Technology has changed dramatically in ways the ancients would never have foreseen. But the one thing that is constant is fundamental human nature.
Reading the Bible drove that home in me, again, and again. And while all the positive traits of human nature are also relatively unchanging, it is the unchanging negative traits of human nature that struck me so decisively. Pride. Greed. Lust. Envy. Gluttony. Wrath. Sloth. Hate. Anger. Jealousy. Deceit. Criminality. Violence. Basically, the Seven Deadly Sins, and more.
And Technology, which has changed our lives in so many ways, has done so in both good ways and bad ways.
As the author accurately states in the except above: "...Throughout history, every transformative invention has brought both promise and peril..."
And that Promise has been amplified...as has the Peril.
I have long held close the belief that there is a duality in nearly everything, that is, for every good thing, there is a potential bad thing associated.
For example, a hammer can be used to build a beautiful home, or it can be used to bash in the head of another human being. And that dynamic of duality is true for just about everything.
In this case, the author uses the following example of Flock cameras, and expands upon with various valid references to AI. The author states the following with respect to risks and technology like AI: "...The risks posed by powerful technologies generally fall into three categories: malicious misuse, human error, and technological flaws..."
I think that is a fine place to start when assessing the risks of technology in the hands of unchanging human nature. We do not wish to crush the "good" that may be done by those who possess and are driven by the positive and unchanging aspects of human nature, but we don't want to ignore things like malicious misuse, human error, and technological flaws when assessing the risks that may accompany those good things. We must keep those risks in mind, and be mindful we don't unnecessarily allow those risks to strangle the good things that are possible as they lay forming in a cradle.
It is a balancing act, and we must be judicious.
Ping for later reading... thanks for posting this!
I used black electrical tape to cover the cameras of my cellphone and Windows PC.
Some might call that “paranoid”, but others...more well educated and knowledgable on the subject, would call it...prudent!
You bet.
Sir, do you have a ping list you could share this American Thinker article with? I get a lot of these from you which I greatly appreciate-if you don’t think it is worthy of pinging, I accept that, as it is your list...:)
I’m paranoid according to my doctor. He didn’t say so, but I know he’s thinking it.
“Who watches the watchers?”
The watched.
Who gets to hold whom accountable is a question.
I remember a report from years ago (10 or more?) of Mark Zuckerberg having a piece of black electrical tape over his laptop’s camera lens. That says a *lot*!
Hahahahahahahaha!!!! That's awesome...:) Gave me a good laugh for the day.
Of course this line from Joseph Heller's Catch-22 is also wholly valid:
“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.”
Yep! That does speak volumes!
“I may be paranoid, but not an android.”
This article already posted at 7:20 am this morning. As the Mods are wont to say—”Search still works”.
I don't have an American Thinker ping list. I have an Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list that is large and a few very small lists. Red Badger and SaveFerris have several ping lists that may be appropriate. I will ping them on this reply.
Aside from the tape on everything I also have several faraday bags I use. I also unplug and disconnect the smart tv from its outside source when not in use.
I also paid an unknown acquaintance to disconnect my truck from its internet source. And yes, I don’t need directions from my vehicle I know where I am going.
All that doesn’t matter in the long run. Example, my neighbor told me she saw me talking to someone on her street facing ring camera. Every intersection you drive through has multiple cameras. Every business. Every swipe of your debit/credit card etc...
We are screwed and we (the mass of stupid people under 40) who don’t know what freedom really is) let it happen.
Look on the bright side, it’s a heck of a lot harder to have an affair now and get away with it.
What model Windows PC do you have that is equipped with a camera? All I know of are USB Web Cams. Unplug the blessed thing.
A waste of tape and time.
It's not the camera that is invading your privacy. Most people keep their phone in their pocket , purse, or a protective jacket. Not much is gathered in video. Where your privacy is at risk is from AUDIO. Your smart phone is listening to you ALL THE TIME. Not just listening, but the information it gathers is evaluated and transmitted back to DATA CENTERS where it is used in many ways. Primarily it tries to determine what advertising to send to you based on what it recorded.
Several years ago a foto made the rounds of Zuckerberg, taken from behind. He clearly had a piece of tape over his tablet’s camera. I bought a cheap 2-pack of tiny, unobtrusive adhesive “windows” that can be placed over your device’s cameras. And remember to go thru your settings and DENY all apps’ access to camera, microphone, location, saved fotos, etc.
I’ve thought about it then laughed! What are they going to see? My ugly old face?
I’m sure every bit I type on the Internet is dissected, packet by packet. But a video of me doing it? Not very enlightening or valuable in anyone’s idea of eavesdropping intelligence!
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