Total Recall - C. Gordon Bell [70]
While Steve’s apparatus is much more than just a recording device, it can record, and this has gotten him into trouble. Once he was forcibly ejected by security guards from the Art Gallery of Ontario, under the rationale that he might infringe the copyright of the artwork in the museum. This and similar incidents have, ironically, increased the amount of recording Steve has done. Now, in order to capture any incidents of violence, he always records in such situations.
Steve takes particular exception to being told not to record in places that have surveillance cameras placed on him. “It seemed that the very people who pointed cameras at citizens were the ones who were most afraid of new inventions and technologies of citizen cameras.” Fair is fair—can’t he shoot back? He even coined the termed sousveillance, from the French to “watch from below,” in contrast with surveillance, French for “to watch from above.”
Steve turns the tables on the surveillance folks in many ways. If they are concerned about him violating copyright of their art, he wears a T-shirt with artwork on the front and requests they turn off their cameras to avoid infringing his copyright. He is often told surveillance is for his own safety, and replies that he is recording for safety too—would they be willing to sign a form taking responsibility for the consequences of removing his “safety device”?
These days, no one can tell if Steve is wearing a camera, anyhow; he appears to be wearing ordinary glasses and his computing equipment is of the pocket-PC variety. Without any suspicions raised, he is free to shoot back to his heart’s content. Big Brother, meet Little Brother.
Soon, of course, will come the multiplication of Little Brothers, recording all over the place. And where there are e-memories, e-gossip can’t be far behind. E-gossip is progressing from text like “I saw Gordon do X” to the actual e-memories in pictures, audio, and video. For all the talk of Big Brother, Little Brother is more likely to impact you.
There are many implications to believing what you do may be recorded—and replayed. It could put you on your best behavior. Antisocial behavior could be exposed and condemned. You couldn’t expect to get away with many lies. There is even some cold comfort in knowing that if I use my e-memories to harangue you over something you’ve done, you will have a copy of my harassment to use against me. Crimes could be caught on tape—while I was writing this book, patrons of Oakland’s subway used their cell phones to record video of a man being shot by a police officer.
On the other hand, not all secrets are nefarious; I may be sneaking out to buy you a gift. People may be inhibited from going for needed treatment if they think it may lead to exposure of their problems. And relationships could become stilted, with candid conversations being replaced by the excruciatingly careful speech we are used to hearing from politicians, who are the first wave of society to have their words regularly recorded and played back to them.
So how will we adapt to being recorded? Will it be a free-for-all ? Will we pass more restrictive laws? Recording someone talking without their permission is already illegal in many places. Customs will no doubt evolve regarding when it is socially acceptable to record. In one culture, it may be good manners just to let people know you are recording. Another culture may deem lifelogging in the company of others an absolute taboo. Birthday parties might be fair game, while first dates are not.
I think requiring consent to record will be the likely direction of custom and law, and technology will be developed to this end. When several of us gather, our devices will communicate information about who is allowed to record whom. If I chat with Ted and Mary, Ted may consent to my recording while Mary does not. My log of the conversation would then have all images of Mary blurred and all of her speech erased. At the same time, she might have allowed Ted to record her.
New sorts of relationships will arise from the adoption