“More than machinery we need humanity” – The NSA, Verizon, Prism, and You
I’m definitely adding LibrarianShipwreck to my must-read list!
The real scandal is not that the NSA obtained millions of phone numbers from Verizon, it is not that through Prism the government spied on people online, it isn’t even that the technology companies went along with all of this. It is that we adjusted ourselves to a technological society without pausing to confront that all of the previously mentioned threats would be become a reality under the aegis of technology. Anger is justified, but we must reserve some of this anger for ourselves, instead of just directing it at the venal technocrats who populate political office and the ethically stunted tinkerers who populate Silicon Valley.
Michael Sauers is the Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
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I’m definitely adding LibrarianShipwreck to my must-read list!