Is “Big Brother” getting even closer?

  In George Orwell's movie, 1984, released in December of 1984, they painted a very dismal picture of dystopian England in the year 1984 A D.
   The main premise of the movie was that the government, known as "Big Brother" monitored everything the citizens did via "Telescreens” that were essentially two-way TV monitors that watch you while you were watching it.  Nothing could be hidden from Big Brother.  (Trivia note: This movie also coined, the term "black helicopters".)
    I just finished reading the article called 5 Trends That Will Shape Social Media (http://linkd.in/aftDVU)  highlighting some key trends in social media such as Geolocation targeting, RFID tagging of devices and objects and how social networking will redefine how organizations communicate.
   My current "smart phone", a Motorola Droid, has a feature that I can turn on called "Locations" that, through the use of the built in GPS on the phone, will spot where I am currently located and provide some detailed information about businesses and people nearby.  Great idea, if you're a business that wants to promote their offerings or if you just can't stand to be out of touch with anybody for more than five minutes.  Can you say, "privacy concerns"?
   Here are a few of the predictions from this article:

• Identity will become embedded in devices.  Our social media identities such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc. will be entered as part of the initial process of setting up the device.
• Online sharing will become embedded in media life.  With social identity embedded into the devices we use daily, social sharing will become an integral part of the way we enjoyed media on our regular TVs, DVD players and music players.
• "Location" will be embedded into all activities.  Location aware devices will employee, pre-emptive use of location to alert the user of things or people nearby that may be of interest.
• "Smart devices" and web applications will automatically check in and post updates.  Identity aware devices, empowered by embeddable RFID tags, will allow this type of technology to spread beyond the mobile phone.
• Social networking will redefine how large organizations communicate.

   As an advocate and user of emerging technologies, I am not overly concerned about these trends.  I do think it is incumbent on anyone using these technologies to be fully aware of all the ramifications.  One needs to learn how to use them, and more importantly, know how and when to turn them off to protect their privacy.  As long as there is an "opt out" provision built into the device, I don't have a problem with it.  I can choose to use or not use the capabilities at my own discretion.

Technorati Tags: social media,geolocation,RFID,privacy,Facebook,Twitter,smart phone

   
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