A conversation on TED.com: I am not getting paranoid but why so much money invested in future spying equipment?

Sajjaad Loothfaully
plaine-magnien
Mauritius

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I am not getting paranoid but why so much money invested in future spying equipment?

Last week there was a robot who could fly like a bird, a technological revolution indeed. However a little cam and a signal transmission system can easily be mounted on it, right?. Today a light bulb which can sent information. You'll surely be afraid to share your secrets in the light of a bulb...I'm thinking more about politicians, journalist, industries. News of the world has already create much havoc around the globe, what could be more dreadful? Wouldn't it be wiser to invest in projects which will lead humanity to do more generous actions and develop their lost faculty of 'sharing' with genuine intentions and nothing else?
I hope I am not getting paranoid.
s.

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Sajjaad Loothfaully
- 0
Aug 10 2011: Yeah you are right. Thanks for clearing out my misunderstanding. Now I can sleep 'tanquille'. ;-) I was more concerned about industrial espionage.
Hans Kreiger
- +2
Aug 10 2011: The wireless data transmission using lightbulbs will (at the moment) be unable to 'spy' on you. They are devices of transmission and not reception.
Think of it like a radio broadcast; one way. You can safely talk in a room where you can receive radio broadcasts, and the broadcasters cannot hear you.
Alexander Shand
- 0
Aug 5 2011: I think it is a case of international security. If used in the correct capacity, the ability to 'spy' can be a very useful tool, for example in preventing terrorist attacks whilst gathering as much information about the organisations' infastructure as possible.

I am assuming however that you refer to the ability to watch the every move of everyday, innocent citizens?
- Eric Jun Kinoshita
  - 0
  Aug 5 2011: Is it terrorism a problem itself?
- Sajjaad Loothfaully
  - 0
  Aug 6 2011: @ Alexander, I care for my private life and that of my community. We could be doing things which others might misinterpreted because we don't share the same culture. Moreover, I believe that if I had a company like apple who depends on innovations, I would not like the fact that my competitors spy on me and makes trillions out of my ideas, through spying.
  
  @ Eric Remove frustrations and give the people what they need - games and/or alcohol. Problem solved?!
  s.
- Devon Wilson
  - 0
  Aug 7 2011: The rather glib issuance of "national security" is really a disguised form of deferred responsibility. I feel the term is used to justify the use of any technology for invasive means. We need to remember that building a technology for the use of "security" is really a form of aggression and needs to be regarded carefully. Facebook's recent use of facial recognition pinpoints this issue because it is being done without your consent or knowledge. I read an article in which Facebook's new additions are simply being data farmed by governments in order to track whoever they deem as needing to be tracked. The scary thing about this is that it is completely invisible and no one really knows if your wife, mother, son or daughter is under surveillance.
Bakul Valambhiya (Mistry)
- 0
Aug 4 2011: Those people keep on stealing too much out of poor people's life the poor get further more poor. and to stop poor from attacking those super rich in the future, they keep on investing on future spying assets.
- Sajjaad Loothfaully
  - 0
  Aug 5 2011: It a war between rich and poor? Instead of putting money in spying equipment why not give that amount to the poor, then.
Sajjaad Loothfaully
- 0
Aug 4 2011: smie...Change of mindset possible?!
Judge Pau 50+
- 0
Host TED Translator Associate

Aug 4 2011: Because spying is not in their mind when they are working on it...
*smile*