Data Free for All…

“Current or future generations of children will probably never experience that kind of freedom.” (”Name, rank, serial number” - The Streeb-Greebling Diaries)

I think that is a safe assumption. Further, I think we can all just forget about the notion of not being tracked in some meaningful way in real-time.

Instead, if we are not to be oppressed, we should focus on allowing the following:

Unfettered, unfiltered access to any and all data originating from the public domain.

Meaning, we should all be given access to any and all logging data that might result from a public-works project that generates data on any public aspect of our lives. Certain datum may not be available as it may pertain to investigation (state/federal otherwise), yet this should be the exception not the rule.

IE: we should know where normal police cars are located but not ‘undercover’ cars.

Basically, I am stating that data should be made free if it can be used against us.

At first this may sound odd but consider:

Imagine I use an analysis of some type to determine that the normal police cars will be at maximum range from a given bank…which I want to rob. I wait for this time and then proceed with my robbery.

This data may give me an advantage however it indicates a hole in police routing and transit management. Which can and should be fixed. Who might might find and then point this out?

Anyone and that is the point. People that care, will care and work actively to either help or harm. However, history has shown that helping always wins over harming. For a modern-day example, try to deface Wikipedia, an open encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

For every defacer there are many more fixers. The brain-share only increases thus stopping even the subtle defacements which wreak the most havoc.

My basic argument rests on this notion:

A bunch of raw data is hard to work with. Like locking the doors to your house is a good idea to stop the casual thief….yet if a professional came around…you would loose no matter what you did.

If the raw data is worked with, it can be used equally for good and evil. However, as it stands now, a good organization could have a hard time obtaining that raw data (think non-profit reporting organizations), where a criminal has no problem obtaining it. There is an uneven distribution of data…mainly going to the powerful, which includes the controlling class and criminals (terrorists or otherwise).

Remember: we will be tracked in many ways. Like it or not, it will happen…in fact it is/has been happening. See this:

The Future of Speeding and The Social Motor Net

How much of a stretch is it to say there might be a process which flags and tracks every time a given license plate is recognized…city-wide, nation-wide and then eventually world-wide. Tracking for all.

The general public should have access to this data for use as well…since as it stands now, only those that want to harm us or that think they know best for us will have access. How about us?

Throughout history, we have had huge leaps forward in thought, due mostly to open societies….(think Alexandria)…yet when this has happened, open thought increased innovation so much so…that it was eventually folded into people-control systems and weapons of war….which subsequently would end the openness of society….and thus send us crashing into an inevitable ‘dark’ period — yet not before giving some group just a little more wealth…and just a little more control….till it was worthless.

We are moving into a time where the Panopticon is no longer needed. There is no more need to wonder if you are being tracked. We ARE being tracked in every which way.

Let us quit repeating history and finally learn the virtues of an open society.