A history of predictions about automation & online privacy

by Gene Michael Stover

created Sunday, 2012-11-25 T 19:11:00Z
updated Friday, 2021 September 3

update 2021-09-03: I'm not sure what I was thinking when I created this file back in 2012. The original title (which I changed as of this update) was “Berserker foreshadowing”[001], which sounds snarky, maybe motivated by some bitterness. Nowadays, looks to me like it's more interesting (if it can be interesting at all) as a list of predictions about automation & online privacy. (Why would automation & online privacy be in the same file at all? Maybe they should be split.)

whensourcetitle & linkmy notes?
2012-11-25 rt.com Cop cars to be replaced with drones by 2025
2012-11-25 rt.com DARPA building drone submarines to patrol the sea
2012-11-25 The Guardian Obama drone-warfare rulebook condemned by human rights groups
2012-11-26 BBC Risk of robot uprising wiping out human race to be studied
2013-01-07 Seattle P.I. Suspected US drone found floating in Philippines
2013-01-08 rt.com Missouri lawmaker wants drone use to require a warrant 000
But someone hopes you'll think it's a good idea...
whensourcetitle & link
2012-12-19 Jeremy Hsu of Technewsdaily Drones Would Respect Privacy Under New Bill

000. About Preserving Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act

  1. The bill is called Preserving Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act.
  2. It's sponsor isKansas City Representative Casey Guernsey, a Republican.
  3. The story says drones "have in recent years been employed throughout the US to capture criminals and monitor illegal immigrants". I didn't know they were already used in that capacity.
  4. The story later says that drones are not often used in the USA, but the Federal Aviation Administration predicts that 30,000 drones will fly over the US before 2023.
  5. Why would the bill "also protect agriculture businesses and farmers from being spied on without their knowledge"? Why mention them specifically? Why aren't they protected by the bill in the same way that it would protect the rest of us?

001. Berserker

In this cotext, “berserker” is a reference to the fictional planet-busting automatons originally created by Fred Saberhagen with contributions from other authors since.

Wikipedia has an entry about them: Berserker (novel series).

cybertiggyr.com