Who's Watching?

By now, you're no doubt aware of the Digital TV conversion occuring on 2/17/09. Its only a few weeks away now. Ever since I heard about this conversion, I've been a little confused and a bit suspicious about the reasoning behind this. Why do they suddenly want to terminate all analog signals? My initial thought was to follow the dollars. Who would stand to make money here? The manufacturers of the conversion boxes, for one. Those who would sell the rights to the "new" frequencies (the Government), for two. But this seems like small potatoes for the Feds to mandate that infrastructure be put in place for this conversion, just for, what, a couple hundred million dollars (I know, sounds like a lot, but think in terms in GDP, domestic budgeting, etc)? So I researched a bit, and by all accounts, the reasoning sounds legit. Its actually quite boring, so I'm not going to get into it here - you can research on your own. However, if anyone unearths credible info to arouse more suspicion, please Facebook it to me, and I'll post it here.

But from that research, I "stumbled" accross something far more disturbing... A few weeks back, I had caught an episode of 60Minutes, a show I don't typically watch. They were doing a piece on the technology currently being developed that was capable of accurately reading peoples minds. I'll attach a link to the full video below, but read on first...

Conservatives and Liberals (to a lesser extent) are always concerned with infringement on the civil liberties they justifiably believe are granted by the Constitution. Who is to say what you can and cannot say? I mean, isn't "Freedom of Speach" one of the most fundamental of reasons for the foundations of this country? Isn't the stifling of that liberty one of the very definitions of a dictatorship (along with the disarming of the citizens, and a lack of a fair voting process)? I've always said that you have a right to say what is on your mind. Those that hear you have the right to react to it. This is called "law." If I had a viewpoint that I felt was not well-recepted, I would simply keep my mouth shut. "You can't control your thoughts, but you can control your mouth."

This brings me back to the 60Minutes piece. Now, click on this link, and watch the video. Don't read on until after you've watch it all...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/31/60minutes/main4694713.shtml

How does this make you feel? Do you like that we will soon be be able to "ethically" interrogate suspected terrorists, obtain info we "know" to be accurate, and hopefully act on it, all without harming them physically, or violating their "human rights?" Maybe the streets in your town will be safer, once police can take anyone off the streets who seems familiar with the circumstances surrounding a crime scene (what does a Trial by Jury prove, anyway?)? Remember one thing - technology NEVER, EVER, goes backwards. NEVER...

How long until this technology is advanced to the point where it not only "accurately" reads your thoughts, and relays them, unbeknowst to you, to whomever wants to know (your local WalMart, your job, criminals... and yes, the Government), but actually INPUTS thoughts into your head? Sounds laughable, right? Remember what the gentleman in the video says to his students; "There is no longer such a thing as Science Fiction. Everything I knew as Science Fiction when I was growing up, we are now doing." You need to buy a hamburger. You can afford this car. You want to donate to this charity... You want to vote for this candidate...

What if the technology was not used to coerce you into voting for a certain "candidate" (Fair elections?), but was used on that candidate once in office?

This is a game of setting precedent... Please, keep your eyes open, and know your rights...

Another link:

http://www.opendemocracy.net/media-digitaltv/article_1019.jsp