Too much technology for its own sake?
I recently took part in a debate at the BBC's Free Thinking festival in Liverpool on whether or not technology empowers people. It soon emerged that I was to take on the role of technophile against the rest of the panel ? Phil Redmond of Brookside/Hollyoaks fame, historian Jonathan Sawday and ex-hacker Robert Schifreen.
The most emotive theme of the debate was technology's use as a monitoring tool, and the spectre of a Big Brother society. This was alluded to early on in the debate when each panellist was asked to sit in a chair at the front of the stage. One by one, as the spotlight turned on us, we were asked by a robotic, disembodied voice, "Who does technology put in charge?"
Issues thrown up for discussion included the use of RFID systems; security weaknesses in web-based CCTV cameras; and whether the government and industry are exploiting technology to their own rather than users' advantages. The Information Commissioner's recent surveillance society report also cropped up, in which Richard Thomas warned we are now being tracked all the time.
