Proper precautions
Social media and the internet have changed our world. It is a wonderful and a terrifying thing.
Wonderful in that we can reconnect with old friends we haven't seen for decades. Wonderful in that we can stay in touch with people we are geographically separated from, without having to talk on the telephone or use so-called "snail mail". Wonderful in that the ways we can share information only grow by leaps and bounds. When we first started on-line communication, modems were 300 baud, and the introduction of the 1200 baud modem was a leap forward. When 9600 and then 14400 baud modems were introduced, people thought communication would never move much faster. The 56.6K dial-up modems were thought to be a geometric progression forward. They seem glacially slow now, in comparison to how fast online things move now.
Terrifying in that we can post a picture we want only one or two others to see, and it can be lifted and travel around the world to tens of thousands of people in minutes. Terrifying in that our most personal and private information and photographs can be on our computers and other devices, where we believe them to be secure and safe; and yet they can be stolen by thieves.
When I started thinking about these two aspects of our world today, I was reminded of the original Star Trek television series and its "Prime Directive". One of the reasons they were forbidden to share their knowledge and technology with more primitive worlds was because they could provide the technology and the knowledge, but not the wisdom and experience needed to manage those two things.
We are suffering from the same problem. Our knowledge and technology is moving faster than our wisdom and experience. Laws don't change as fast as needed to protect people. On one of those daytime talk shows earlier this week, the owner/operator of a website defended the fact that current law protects him from being held responsible for slanderous things one person posts about another. The poster is certainly liable, but not the owner of the site where the damaging information is posted. If someone steals your intellectual property and posts it online, your remedies are severely limited by current law.
We can't slow down technology's rapidly accelerating progression. We can't make laws change more quickly unless and until we force our elected representatives to pay more attention to these things. I don't like the idea that someone can post damaging lies about someone else and the host of those lies can't be forced to remove them. There's something really wrong with that equation.
Wonderful in that we can reconnect with old friends we haven't seen for decades. Wonderful in that we can stay in touch with people we are geographically separated from, without having to talk on the telephone or use so-called "snail mail". Wonderful in that the ways we can share information only grow by leaps and bounds. When we first started on-line communication, modems were 300 baud, and the introduction of the 1200 baud modem was a leap forward. When 9600 and then 14400 baud modems were introduced, people thought communication would never move much faster. The 56.6K dial-up modems were thought to be a geometric progression forward. They seem glacially slow now, in comparison to how fast online things move now.
Terrifying in that we can post a picture we want only one or two others to see, and it can be lifted and travel around the world to tens of thousands of people in minutes. Terrifying in that our most personal and private information and photographs can be on our computers and other devices, where we believe them to be secure and safe; and yet they can be stolen by thieves.
When I started thinking about these two aspects of our world today, I was reminded of the original Star Trek television series and its "Prime Directive". One of the reasons they were forbidden to share their knowledge and technology with more primitive worlds was because they could provide the technology and the knowledge, but not the wisdom and experience needed to manage those two things.
We are suffering from the same problem. Our knowledge and technology is moving faster than our wisdom and experience. Laws don't change as fast as needed to protect people. On one of those daytime talk shows earlier this week, the owner/operator of a website defended the fact that current law protects him from being held responsible for slanderous things one person posts about another. The poster is certainly liable, but not the owner of the site where the damaging information is posted. If someone steals your intellectual property and posts it online, your remedies are severely limited by current law.
We can't slow down technology's rapidly accelerating progression. We can't make laws change more quickly unless and until we force our elected representatives to pay more attention to these things. I don't like the idea that someone can post damaging lies about someone else and the host of those lies can't be forced to remove them. There's something really wrong with that equation.
posted by me at 9:11 PM
<< Home