A Quick Recap

On the small group discussion on where this semester might take us:
We began speaking about ethics in the cyber-world, which led us immediately to the idea of how much surveillance is possible when everything occurs in a semi-accessible space (for those who know how to access it, i.e. the state and/hackers). We then thought it might be interesting to look into this concept of surveillance in terms of the legal system - with telecom companies providing data about average citizens to the government, whether or not they can use this information against us in court becomes extremely pertinent. Whether or not it is even legal for the companies to provide this information without violating privacy laws is another question entirely.
Surveillance brought us to yet another topic, that of marketing. When our information is available to be bought and sold by online corporations, it can be used to create profiles of our likes and dislikes - "plugging us in" to the system whether we ask for it or not. This, again, raises the question of who actually has access to this information - and if we really want them to have that ability.

Also, a quick thought on one of the readings for today:
Ong, in "Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought," notes that the "interior transformation of consciousness" occurring through writing is also alienating. It is an alienation from what is immediately natural, which is say, oral communication. I wonder what Marx would have had to say about this, given his preoccupation with the concept of alienation. There is also the possibility that these are two unconnected ideas of alienation, and I'll simply be spending too much time in the near future delineating something that was never there at all.