Stop the Big Brother State
The Big Brother State is a short educational film created at the German university of Augsburg which tries to provide a different view of certain laws that are supposed to protect our freedom for the sake of our rights and privacy.
Do we really need more cameras monitoring public places, trusted computing, biometric passports and network traffic monitoring? Can anyone confirm that the data that is collected will never be misused for other purposes?
The movie uses animation and a dramatic voice to display possible consequences for users from all over the world. Definitely worth to watch.
I think Goethe put it nicely by saying "None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free". All of these mechanisms provide a false sense of security. What good does it do if all network traffic is monitored when terrorists use encryption, one use computers, meet in person, meet in another country, send letters, use codes only they know?
There are so many ways around these monitoring systems, that it is silly to believe that this will stop terrorists from committing acts of terrorism. Instead of finding ways to spend billions of tax money, politicians should start looking at the causes, and start to fight those instead, but that would mean that they would have to face some ugly truths that no one dares to face yet.
The video addresses several issues that are still highly controversial even years after it has been created. This includes the following topics:
- The use of Close Circuit Cameras in the public for monitoring purposes.
- Biometric passports and IDs to identify people.
- Trusted computing in computer systems.
- The monitoring of emails and other messaging services.
It addresses each issue by highlighting the negative sides of each of the measures discussed in the video.
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Where has the issue of personnel ‘privacy’ gone to? With the threat of terror, it seems that any preventive measure is warranted. I for one is not against it, but the concern is to how much to an extent are we all comfortable with. And, what is going to happen should misuse of the stored data happens.
There are many politicians who are control freaks. I don’t like it. More people should see this sort of movies. There are more people who tells about the dangers of police states.
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Benjamin Franklin