This is JZ out in a field of tomatoes. Well, used to be tomatoes. They’ve been harvested but he likes to grab the ones that got missed. They keep growing. This was before he started working at Quizno’s and got leftover tomatoes. I’m in the car, not helping. You see, JZ and I have considerably different childhood memories of what farm life is all about.
I ran across this list of items that hit the mark. Remember that ten years ago, I was the only voice in town warning people about identity theft, cyber crime, and the huge potential for computer intrusion of privacy. (Invasion if illegal, intrusion is not.)Here are 13 “techo-falacies” of the information age published by Carrie P.
The nothing to fear fallacy. That if you are not guilty, you have nothing to hide.
The free lunch fallacy. That technology offers cost-free solutions to social problems.
The legalistic fallacy. That the only criteria that should guide technology is whether or not the law permits it.
The assumption that efficiency should overrule other human values such as fairness.
The lowest common denominator fallacy. That if your competition is pushing moral limits, you are justified in doing the same.
The right of possession fallacy. That information an organization collects about clients is property to be bought and sold like office furniture or raw materials.
The fallacy that your values are historical and must become weaker as technology advances.
The fallacy that technology is neutral. As George Orwell wrote, “So is the jungle.”
The fallacy of implied consent. That if you breathe polluted air, you have agreed to pollution.
The Thin Ice fallacy. That if you can do something, it is permissible, or that you should wait until a disaster occurs before realizing that some uses of information technology are simply too risky to be adopted.
The risk of letting the means determine the end. To develop technology without a clear goal and hoping everything will turn out okay.
The fallacy of perfect containment. That technology will always remain the solution and never become the problem.
Berating the opposition. To accuse any critic who questions the means as being against the ends.
Hey, I like this author already. My biggest argument against the use of technology to invade privacy is that the average person who invades is not qualified to make accurate judgments even when in possession of the facts. To that list I would add point fourteen, which is to think because you realized too late that records were dangerous, that everyone else should be placed in the same situation. There are a lot of people who really feel that way.
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