Brain Worm Farm: List of 5 Boring Webcams: Right to Privacy versus the Right to Snoop

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

List of 5 Boring Webcams: Right to Privacy versus the Right to Snoop

The modern digital age has wrought us with a social, ethical and legal conundrum of what exactly is the limit of our information gathering. Whether it's spying, snooping, eavesdropping, prying, being nosey or just a tinge of voyeurism we have all been at least complicit, either overtly or accidentally, in infringing on someone else's privacy.

As the Edward Snowden debate rages on about his patriotism or treason, one fact remains: the government through its NSA branch has been unwarrantably delving into the world's privacy. Whistleblowers during this paradigm shift have often been vilified in the public forum regardless of their diligence in unraveling the controversies through the proper channels. Furthermore, the gravity of their revelations have sometimes compelled them to go rogue and disgorged their findings into the public arena, occasionally causing them to be demonized for revealing the magician's secrets.

A common occurrence with any new technology is that the initial usage becomes overshadowed, thereby stretching out to encompass a bevy of unforeseen applications. The rapidity of emerging digital technologies is outstripping the ability of society to address, define and regulate the subsequent ethical, legal and cultural ramifications. Moreover, these unforeseen applications tug at the almost threadbare fabric which makes up an individual's right to privacy. One need only to examine the draconian laws which were drafted around the turn of the century to accommodate the emergence of the motorized vehicle, in order to see how tradition trumped technology.

Before there is either an organic codification of digital privacy or jurisprudence catches up; individuals will continue to navigate a stormy sea of divulgence and privacy. Until that time here is a list of Boring Webcams to help satiate a gluttonous voyeurism.