In this video, Henry Jenkins suggests that the developing technologies allow people to monitor the government and true events, exposing and eventually finalizing famine, torture, and others. He says:
"George Orwell imagined a world where Big Brother was watching us, when we instead, with little cell phone cameras, are watching Big Brother every moment of the day."
CNN recently exposed Craigslist as a commonly used tool of underage prostitution.
These media have facilitated and sustained this behavior for years. Many other websites also exist to promote similar horrifying practices.
The potential of the media is overwhelming in possibilities.
After the owner of Craigslist denies knowing anything about the issue, the CNN reporter asks:
“Why should I be showing you this if it is your website?”
Today, people must take responsiblity for what is out there. Now that Big Brother is no longer watching for everything and everyone, others become crucial players to ensure that only ethical and decent values spread.
1 comment:
Wow, this raises SO many questions and issues. How to ensure that only "ethical and decent values" are spread when those are such culturally specific values? Who determines what is ethical and decent in a globalized culture? So much has to be determined at the level of community, and there are so many different cultural communities. It raises the question of what community(ies) the internet represents, since it is not "on the ground," so to speak.
I would really like to hear much more of your discussion and ideas about the potential that Jenkins mentions for people to monitor the actions of Big Brother--that seems like a huge turning of the tables in terms of surveillance and power.
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