Wow

#tresdancing was such an interesting video. In short, the video is about a girl who fails her math exam which means she has to repeat the year. She asks her teacher if she can do anything to pass the class and the teacher replies saying she has to follow instructions very carefully. She gives the girl some technological glasses to wear which prompts her with math questions every now and then. The teacher explains that if she reaches level 20, then the girl will pass the year; and the girl accepts.

In my opinion, the glasses is recording everything she sees. It is like a human moving surveillance camera. In all aspects of life, personal information is collected and analysed by organisations that produce various outcomes—surveillance is not simply good or bad, helpful or harmful, but it is never neutral.

Wonder

I wonder what organisations like the one shown in the video do with all the recordings and information gathered. They could possibly eliminate crime. For example, when the girl sees a person “committing an illegal action”, she is asked to report it to the police by a blink of an eye. What if one day the organisation decides that the user’s decision does not matter and directly reports the action to the police. They would just be taking advantage of us by providing minimal to no benefits. This raises many security questions such as what are these organisations doing with all this information. Are we being taken advantage of? Are they doing all this for a good cause? Are they going to be truthful and open about their purpose with the information? Is surveillance always a good thing?

Self-reflection

I feel like surveillance today is trustworthy and advantageous. However, if we wear glasses that records everything we are doing in the future, we are going to lose privacy. Is privacy more important than being safe? Where is the balance between having good security from surveillances and having one’s personal privacy?