Interesting interview with David Brin about privacy, etc.

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Bosley, John - BLS" <Bosley.John () bls gov>
Date: August 11, 2004 3:13:46 PM EDT
To: "'Dave Farber (dave () farber net)'" <dave () farber net>
Subject: Interesting interview with David Brin about privacy, etc.

For IP if you wish, Dave.

John

http://www.govtech.net/magazine/story.php?id=90772
<http://www.govtech.net/magazine/story.php?id=90772>

John Bosley
Office of Survey Methods Research
Room 1950, Bureau of Labor Statistics
202-691-7514
fax 202-691-7426

OS X Summary

In this place, all the myriad cameras report their urban scenes 
straight to Police Central, where security officers use sophisticated 
image-processors to scan for infractions against the public order -- or 
perhaps against an established way of thought.

...Over by the mall, a teenage shoplifter is taken into custody 
gingerly, with minute attention to ritual and rights, because the 
arresting officer knows the entire process is being scrutinized by 
untold numbers who watch intently, lest her neutral professionalism 
lapse.

...There, any citizen may tune in on bookings, arraignments, and 
especially the camera control room itself, making sure that the agents 
on duty look out for violent crime, and only crime.

...Still, taking that into account, it does seem clearer every day that 
the 21st century simply has to feature positive-sum games -- or ways 
everybody can benefit while minimizing the bad.

...I cannot prove with utter certainty that we won't face some genuine 
tradeoffs between safety and freedom, but I am sick of hearing that 
it's automatic -- assumed -- that they work against each other, that I 
must choose between these precious things.

...Q: In one interview about The Transparent Society, you spoke of the 
need for constant public supervision to enforce accountability on 
government -- metaphorically a "leash" to remind our guard dogs that 
they serve us. Does the two-way aspect of information transparency 
create that leash?

...Not one thing we do will reduce the growing power of elites to look 
at us. Nor should that matter, or reduce our freedom an iota, so long 
as we fiercely embrace the other solution.

...There are dozens of potential ways to increase accountability, while 
at the same time allowing our paid protectors to do their jobs better.

...You can't count the number of times you've seen on TV a debate 
between some civil libertarian and a "security expert" -- screaming at 
each other about this so-called "tradeoff."

...Stand on a street corner, and spend five minutes doing a slow turn, 
taking time to notice all the things that work -- the traffic lights, 
the sewers, the clean water, all the people being courteous to each 
other and taking turns.

...I also like having skilled cops, who know they might be on video at 
any moment, and therefore have decided to stop being paid thugs and 
instead be the kind of great professionals we saw in fiction, say on 
Adam 12.

...It's great, and they're getting all sorts of new tools to become 
better at it -- software tools, cameras, spy tools, biometric ID and 
surveillance -- tools that might also become dangerous to freedom, if 
we aren't careful.  But even assuming they use these tools both 
honorably and well, there's just no way anticipation will always work.

...The trend of the 20th century -- toward professionalization of 
everything -- simply cannot go on. The 21st century has to be a time 
when people gradually take back some control of their lives.

...Every Cabinet department and military service -- almost every agency 
-- has an inspector general, whose job is to make sure the law is 
obeyed by those entrusted with state power.

...Hey, you can look at the future and shiver with fear, or you can 
peer ahead and say, 'How can we maximize the good while minimizing the 
bad?'

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