"No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness." Aristotle

Friday, May 11, 2007

What Will You Do Without Freedom?


Has anyone else been keeping up with a site named Polar Rose? Here is a description of what they do, lifted directly off of the site of course. "Polar Rose makes photos search able by analyzing their content and recognizing the people in them."

What their new plug-in does:

"The plug-in detects people in online photos and places our signature rose approximately where the pinhole of their shirt would be. A click on the rose will bring up a tooltip with relevant information, including name and other photos found of the same person. As a user, you help train our engine by tagging names or verifying the data generated by Polar Rose or by your fellow users."

Does anyone else find this disturbing? Anyone can download this plug in, add the names to everyone in their pictures, therefore making it easier for any other picture of you on the web, findable. They are using a innovative photo recognition program to match various features of the face to a name.... This is where the unsuspecting public comes in... If they do no research on it, they just think it's a cool program to keep track of everyone in their photos.... Not realizing by naming everyone in them with this program, they are just tagging that person to be tracked on the web, through photos....

At what point do we say enough is enough? When will we as Americans get tired of our privacy being invaded? Every passing year our freedom becomes more limited. How much longer until we do not have freedom?

A review of some of what has been taken away so far:

1) Our right to choose whether or not we die by flying through a windshield aka Seat belt Law.
2) In some areas the right to smoke in our own homes, vehicles.
3) The right to state our opinion without fear of backlash. (example Dixie Chicks)
4) Under the Patriot Act, we are subjected to our phones being wiretapped, online records being traced, private mail and email being read, our reading habits being monitored.
These are just a few examples I have given.... And it is all in the name of freedom and protection, or so they claim. I could do more research on the matter, but I am running out of steam.

I do wonder though, how much longer will the American people sit by and watch their freedoms being stripped, little by little... How much longer before a rebellion happens? Will our children see it? Or their children? Or will it happen in our lifetime?

It will happen...Mark my words, it will. Citizens will only take so much from their government, before a rebellion starts...

Just a question, why is it we continue to allow ourselves to be bullied? Why is it our troops are fighting in a country, so that they have democracy; with our set-up as an example, when ours continues to fail it's people? Hurting the one's it is designed to protect?

I know there isn't a perfect government and I do not expect ours to be. What I do expect and demand though, is a government who will work for his people and listen to them.

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