What was once a search engine developed by two PhD graduates in Stanford, California has evolved into a cultural icon and one of the world leaders in technological innovation. GoogleMaps and GoogleEarth changed the way we saw and navigated the world, GoogleTranslate saved the careers of countless high school and college students, GoogleDocs redefined what it meant to put together group presentations “at the last minute” and GooglePlus showed us that even the best fall down sometimes. They have managed to buy out Youtube and even wiggle their way into the Oxford Dictionary. Now that they have dominated the web, they are setting their sights on the physical world by investing in new projects such as self driving cars, balloons that provide Wifi (Project Loon), GoogleGlass, and broadband connections (Google Fiber). They are finding ways to reach out and include everyone into their community and transcend the lines between the digital and physical world. You know your company is special when people find ways to incorporate it into their Halloween outfits.
With all this increased convenience comes a price. We have to take a step back and ask ourselves what are willing to pay for privacy? Unfortunately that is not a question we can avoid anymore. In light of the NSA wiretapping scandal, we are able to catch a glimpse of what our privacy really means to the government. Using the Patriot Act, the government is allowed to collect our browsing history, emails, metadata, etc. They don’t need any legal justification to do so either because its in the sake of “national security”. Any questions pertaining what how much information they are collecting and what they are using it for is “classified”. It really speaks volumes about a nation when they charge a whistle-blower (Edward Snowden) for treason and do nothing to the NSA for blatantly disregarding our Constitutional Rights. There is no one holding them accountable so they continue to abuse their power. We are in an age where nothing online is truly secure. Some people argue that if we don’t agree with the guidelines companies like Google operate by, we should just look for different options. The only problem is that many companies are adopting similar policies and none of these policies hold them accountable for leaking user information. They say that they will keep your information safe yet there isn’t any government intervention that forces them to compensate their victims. If there is a security breach they simply issue a public apology and move on with their lives. If the NSA asks for it, they simply hand it over without notifying you.
Staying away from the Internet is not something that you will be able to do for long because it is only a matter of time before you are forced to assimilate. Job applications are a common example. In the past you were able to apply to jobs in person as long as you had an application and resume. Nowadays Fortune 500 companies such as Target, Walmart, etc. are only accepting online applications. Few and fewer companies are listing job openings in the newspapers (because everything is online now) so you will need to create a profile and upload your resume/cover letter to apply. Ebooks and Kindles are becoming more and more common while libraries are receiving less funding and independent bookstores become slowly phased out due to companies like Amazon. If you wish to order something online you are forced to login with your credit card, address, name, etc. The impact of the Internet becomes more prevalent in our lives each day.
During this time, I think we need to ask ourselves where its power comes from relative to Langdon Winner’s concepts of social determination of technology, social determination of technology, and naive technological determinism. Does it gain power through the social and economic systems in which it is embedded? Or does it mold society to fit its patterns? It’s important to keep these things in mind. We attribute certain characteristics to these technical artifacts and develop emotional connections with them. In the long run it can lead to dependency. Ask yourself how long can you go without checking social media? It can make us feel a certain way or believe a certain point of view because the messages we receive flow through a medium which they control. Facebook’s social experiment was a perfect example of this. When it was revealed to the public, there was a great amount of outrage. Many of my friends vowed that they would delete their Facebooks…but never did. It’s an addiction that we need to be conscious of because we are all sacrificing something to get our fix.
