Technical Invasion Essay/Speech

Name: Sybell Hernandez

Public Speaking, R. Long

November 1, 2011

Title & Topic:

Technical Invasion: the types of information we share and the implications of widespread technology in our personal lives.

Specific Purpose:

To educate the audience on the different types of technology that tracks our usage, how the data is used and the implications of usage on our daily personal lives.

Thesis:

Considering the every growing presence of technology and data sharing in our daily lives it is important that we, as users and consumers, recognize the implications of how new devices, applications and social networking sites share our information, who has access to the information and ultimately what is the cost of modern day technology.

Introduction

I. She thought she was being clever when she told her husband, "Sorry honey, I can't meet you for dinner. I have plans with the girls out on the West side of town". But he heard through the technological grapevine that she wasn't anywhere near where she was supposed to be. Her sweet and considerate (albeit controlling) husband added a GPS tracking program to the new smart phone he recently gifted her. The rest of this story will play out in divorce court. This was reported by Barbara Walters on ABC News October 17, 2011.

II. The ever growing technology market and advent of smart phones, GPS tracking software, thousands of applications and other technology makes it evident that we are obsessed with sharing and we don't even realize it. It's time to go offline and tune into to reality.

III. Having been a Facebook user and even a MySpace user for many years, I have seen and heard many ups and downs of data sharing, social networking and privacy.

IV. With software programs and social networks sites continuously being upgraded, revamped or newly devised, the question becomes when does the use of mainstream technology outlive its "social" benefits and become an invasion of consumer privacy? I will discuss these benefits and downfalls of data sharing on social networking mediums such as Facebook and Twitter combined with the use of smart phones, IPAD's or ThinkPad's and other mobile devices and their applications. I will touch on the advent of Photo Recognition and its' current and future uses. Further, I will talk about the concept of invasion of privacy and how these tools and applications could be used against us. Finally, I will bring to the forefront the governments' new plans of a pre-crime detection authorized by the Homeland Security and how it could potentially use our online presence to "virtually" nail us to the wall. What is all this technology costing us? Is it truly free? And what are, if any, the implications of the modern technology we so openly embrace?

V. Body:

I. By the show of hands, how many of you in the audience use on a regular basis some sort of social networking program? I'm guilty. I use Facebook at least on a daily basis, sometimes, more often; but Facebook isn't the only data sharing monster out there;

a. In September 2011, CNN reported that Facebook's new revamped style is a lot like Twitter. If you are familiar with FB and other social networking sites you know that you can chat online, email, post pics, add friends, delete friends, play games, follow friend feeds, tag news clips videos and articles. You can pretty much cyber stalk anyone you used to know, or want to know. Some of the newest upgrades will allow users to scroll through previous posts going several years back without having to click "older posts", allowing someone to easily "cyber snoop" on you. If it's not scary enough that your potential love interest can check up on your past, how about potential employers or even for us aspiring grad students, potential colleges?

b. Similarly, we have YouTube. This is another form of data sharing, although not as intrusive--it can just as fun, or damaging. Here, anyone can make a video of themselves and post it for the world to see. Many of the things you find are informative, but you can also find nonsense in abundance. The benefit of YouTube is learning to do things you otherwise have no access to. To its' discredit, you can also post something you thought was fun today but will soon regret. And guess what, it's out in cyberspace so even after you delete it, it's still there.

Transition: In addition to voluntarily sharing your personal information, there are technologies that link your online presence to who you are just by scanning your photo.

II. Facial Recognition technology software is quickly gaining popularity in today's world and not just on social networking sites.

a. According to an article dated June 8th in PCWorld, Facebook's newest upgrades include facial recognition technology. What this means is that user's now can upload photos to the site which will automatically match up your face to your profile. That's creepy. Some may think it is nifty they no longer have to take the time to tag a photo of you; but think about it, somewhere, your identifying facial features are stored away along with your personal information; a there is system out there can put 2 and 2 together.

b. Likewise, local, state and higher level government is jumping on the bandwagon. On October 10th, Discovery News reports that the FBI rolled out the "Next Generation Identification System" which will allow agents to take a photo of a suspect and run it against the federal mug-shot database. In Massachusetts, law enforcement is working on their own version of facial recognition that may even include scanning of the iris to make a clear identification of suspected criminals according to a report from PCWorld dated September 21st.

Transition: Naturally, there are pros and cons of technology. However, once you begin to uncover