Big Brother (writerly, I hope)

[TxRad]

I was going over some old notes for a novel I lost along with the laptop it was stored in. I'm hoping to find the time to reconstuct it during Nano.

The note read:

What if Big Brother wasn't the Government? Who would it be and why/what would they gain?

The obvious answer to me would be corporations. But that is a broad scope. Would it be just certain ones or would it encompass many? Could they do it?

Could the internet be used that way? I'm not just talking tracking cookies and such. I'm talking about full blown surveillance. Does Microsoft have the technology to do it from within their operating systems?

Lots of interesting questions.

 

[lance gt]

I was going over some old notes for a novel I lost along with the laptop it was stored in. I'm hoping to find the time to reconstuct it during Nano.

The note read:

What if Big Brother wasn't the Government? Who would it be and why/what would they gain?

The obvious answer to me would be corporations. But that is a broad scope. Would it be just certain ones or would it encompass many? Could they do it?

Could the internet be used that way? I'm not just talking tracking cookies and such. I'm talking about full blown surveillance. Does Microsoft have the technology to do it from within their operating systems?

Lots of interesting questions.

This reminds me a bit of the Clancy series, PowerPlays and NetForce. It's scary to think of sitting in front of your computer and someone watching eveything you do, analyzing and determining your life the way it should be. Kind of like, the Truman Show, with Jim Carrey.

The Illuminati conspiracy of course would be the most likely to do it. Rich, bored, old guys with a joy for fucking with mankind. If you get too close to finding the truth, you disappear.

Technology is advancing faster than the safeguards to prevent intrusion. Programmers could easily build a system to monitor the populace at large and at will.

 

[CharleyH]

I was going over some old notes for a novel I lost along with the laptop it was stored in. I'm hoping to find the time to reconstuct it during Nano.

The note read:

What if Big Brother wasn't the Government? Who would it be and why/what would they gain?

The obvious answer to me would be corporations. But that is a broad scope. Would it be just certain ones or would it encompass many? Could they do it?

Could the internet be used that way? I'm not just talking tracking cookies and such. I'm talking about full blown surveillance. Does Microsoft have the technology to do it from within their operating systems?

Lots of interesting questions.

You are overlooking something, Tex... think Area 51 ...

"Sceptical observers may perhaps be forgiven for suspecting that Area 51 is the repository for captured Alien technology, since it would otherwise be difficult to imagine any other secret so awful as to require the level of secrecy surrounding this facility."
Federation of American Scientists Website

Now THIS is interesting.

 

[lance gt]

Or the crates that hold all the evidence gathered from secret investigations by the military, think Raiders of the Lost Ark here. What's in all those crates they have and what secrets do they hold? What do they know about that they're not telling us? What do they do with them? Answers, we need answers.

 

[TxRad]

Technology is advancing faster than the safeguards to prevent intrusion. Programmers could easily build a system to monitor the populace at large and at will.

How many laptops alone have built in cameras? How would you know if they were on if someone was controlling them from the other side of the operating system?

Talk about your Giant Plot bunny.

 

[lance gt]

How many laptops alone have built in cameras? How would you know if they were on if someone was controlling them from the other side of the operating system?

Talk about your Giant Plot bunny.

Scary plot bunnies indeed. Every where you go, you're on camera. Every phone call can be traced. Every show you watch and song you listen to. We have very little privacy left in our lives. Even garbage is fair game to delve into your life. Where's my tinfoil hat...

 

[TxRad]

You are overlooking something, Tex... think Area 51 ...

"Sceptical observers may perhaps be forgiven for suspecting that Area 51 is the repository for captured Alien technology, since it would otherwise be difficult to imagine any other secret so awful as to require the level of secrecy surrounding this facility."
Federation of American Scientists Website

Now THIS is interesting.

I have several thought on Area 51.

One, it is the place for aliens.

Two, it's the place where everything is misdirected to, to avoid people seeing the real stuff somewhere else.

There is a lot of top secret stuff there. Research and testing but I feel it's more of a red herring today.

If you were going to do alien technology research, the north or south pole would be the best for secrecy.

Aliens as Big Brother?

 

[TxRad]

Scary plot bunnies indeed. Every where you go, you're on camera. Every phone call can be traced. Every show you watch and song you listen to. We have very little privacy left in our lives. Even garbage is fair game to delve into your life. Where's my tinfoil hat...

Tinfoil hat? I'm a nudist since way back when. How do you think I feel?

 

[sr71plt]

Yes, the Internet could be treated that way, and I heard Craig Fields of DARPA speaking on that danger early in the development of the Internet.

A response to your underlying question, though: Look at Lobbyist and capital investment firms (especially where they do both). Specifically, go look at the partners and consultants of the Carisle Group (and their backgrounds).

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

How many laptops alone have built in cameras? How would you know if they were on if someone was controlling them from the other side of the operating system?

The tv show Fringe did an episode like that. The person on the other end could see the one operating the computer through the built in cam and sent some kind of virus/program that first hypnotized the victim and then liquefied their brains.

 

[lance gt]

Tinfoil hat? I'm a nudist since way back when. How do you think I feel?

Now you'll need a tinfoil jock cup

 

[cloudy]

It could be the Illuminati, or maybe the remnants of the Knights Templar, or take a page from Dan Brown and use the Priory of Sion, perhaps the Freemasons (although, having been married to one for quite some time, those conspiracy theories never fail to crack me up).

There's all kinds of groups you could use, or just make one up. After all, it's just fiction, right?

 

[lance gt]

Hang on, are we discussing theories, or giving Tx plot bunnies to write his next story? I demand a by-line if he is. lol

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

TEX

I know for a fact the government collects virtually every record you create, even your car keeps a record of how far it travels between start-ups. In ten years we wont need cops to write tickets cuz cameras will track you and put your ticket in the mail....we do that here already, and they catch about 100 drivers a day.

So you can pretty well imagine what you want, and its probably true.

I recently discovered a user account on my computer that I didnt create. The trojan wasnt detected by my security, but it created an account for someone, and the account isnt obvious.

The flip-side of big brother is being invisible if youre up tp mischief. How do you escape detection with so many snares. This is the challenge.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Hang on, are we discussing theories, or giving Tx plot bunnies to write his next story? I demand a by-line if he is. lol

If you know people well enough its possible to shape their environment and experiences, manipulate them into a conspiracy, and theyre clueless theyre involved.

 

[sr71plt]

I know for a fact the government collects virtually every record you create,

Collecting and maintaining/applying an easy-access retrieval system on information are two humongously different animals (thank goodness).

For instance, NSA has a marvelous ability to hoover in any and all communications data. But any and every request I ever sent them for data on specific individuals always came back with "files not found."

 

[TxRad]

Hang on, are we discussing theories, or giving Tx plot bunnies to write his next story? I demand a by-line if he is. lol

I've already got my story plotted out. This was something that I thought might give others plot bunnies. Although I have seen a couple of things I'm keeping for future notes.

TEX

I know for a fact the government collects virtually every record you create, even your car keeps a record of how far it travels between start-ups. In ten years we wont need cops to write tickets cuz cameras will track you and put your ticket in the mail....we do that here already, and they catch about 100 drivers a day.

So you can pretty well imagine what you want, and its probably true.

I recently discovered a user account on my computer that I didnt create. The trojan wasnt detected by my security, but it created an account for someone, and the account isnt obvious.

The flip-side of big brother is being invisible if youre up tp mischief. How do you escape detection with so many snares. This is the challenge.

The flip side is a lot of the story I'm doing for Nano.

 

[TxRad]

The tv show Fringe did an episode like that. The person on the other end could see the one operating the computer through the built in cam and sent some kind of virus/program that first hypnotized the victim and then liquefied their brains.

The hypnotize I can understand but the liquefaction is a little beyond me.

 

[sr71plt]

Well, as I've just noted in a post, the "flip side" avoidance is just not to come up on too many screens doing something highly suspicious at once.

 

[TxRad]

Yes, the Internet could be treated that way, and I heard Craig Fields of DARPA speaking on that danger early in the development of the Internet.

A response to your underlying question, though: Look at Lobbyist and capital investment firms (especially where they do both). Specifically, go look at the partners and consultants of the Carisle Group (and their backgrounds).

The world bank has always be a prime candidate in my book.

 

[sr71plt]

The world bank has always be a prime candidate in my book.

Been there, seen that. It's too compartmented into diverse self-interest chunks to do anything intentional on a large or complex scale.

 

[TxRad]

Collecting and maintaining/applying an easy-access retrieval system on information are two humongously different animals (thank goodness).

For instance, NSA has a marvelous ability to hoover in any and all communications data. But any and every request I ever sent them for data on specific individuals always came back with "files not found."

Data bases are improving all the time but the mass of data also gets bigger. Filtering is the thing that is being worked on most now.

 

[TxRad]

Well, as I've just noted in a post, the "flip side" avoidance is just not to come up on too many screens doing something highly suspicious at once.

Or to come up on all of them at once doing nothing. Hiding in plain sight is the most fun.

 

[sr71plt]

Data bases are improving all the time but the mass of data also gets bigger. Filtering is the thing that is being worked on most now.

The technical issues aren't the problem. Separating the wheat from the chaff and pulling the wheat out to the table to someone who knows how to cook with it are the problems. These are human issue problems, not data base problems. Collection has never been the overriding problem (although data maintenance has been a problem. I can remember when we were were told that data would always be retrieval; all you had to do was put it on microfiche reels). The overriding problems have been selection and analysis and marriage with decision making and implementation.

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

The hypnotize I can understand but the liquefaction is a little beyond me.

I don't remember how they explained it. The whole show is based on the concept of "fringe" science and is pretty out there. I watched most of the first season and then missed some episodes and never have had time to catch up, so I haven't even bothered with the second season.