BIG BROTHER IS ALREADY HERE


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I received this piece of email pointing to 
an article that exposed some unpleasant 
news about a popular piece of software.
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-----Original Message----- 
Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 1999 2:53 AM 
To: Bulletin Board 
Subject: Hey Real Jukebox Fans 


http://www.tiac.net/users/smiths/privacy/realjb.htm 

This is priceless!! Please Read if you have 
the Real Jukebox. 

[the article exposes the fact that Real Jukebox 
tracks what CDs you listen to and reports this 
information faithfully to its owners] 



=============== 
Yale's response 
=============== 

Orwell's 1984 has arrived.  
It came right under our noses and we never noticed.

We've been waiting and watching for Big Brother to force his way into our 
homes to install mandatory cameras and microphones.  And while we've been 
ever so vigilant to protect our society from that awful fate, we went 
ahead and installed these devices ourselves.


Cable TV is a two way communication device (They know what you're watching).

PCs are preloaded with software that contact web sites without our permission.  
Late one night (2:00am) I caught mine downloading software updates all on its 
own.  It was nice enough to ask me if I wanted to install them.

All our PCs have built-in microphones and many have cameras.  And then there 
are cell phones and traffic cams and web cams and ATM monitors and on and on.  
Our credit cards leave an electronic trail of bread crumbs Hansel and Gretel 
would have envied.  (They know where you are.  They know what you're doing). 

Those of us who design software have changed the basic philosophy.  Our design 
point used to be, that the user was always in charge.  Like the fundamental 
laws for ROBOTS ("Never harm humans") we designed software to offer options, 
but always allowed the user an override option before taking action.  Today, 
the design point is "We know what's best for the user" - so why bother to ask.  

And that's okay for the software I write.
I just don't like it in the software I use.


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Big Brother is already here.
I have seen the enemy and he is me. 
Just cause you're paranoid, doesn't mean 
someone's not tryin' to getcha. 

any madness to fill the void - i remain, yale 
http://members.tripod.com/~yaleschwartz 
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