Is there any such thing as “Bad Technology”? (pt 1)

I recently posted this story… http://www.artofcomplaint.com/?p=318 The sheer stupidity of the action and more so, the reaction, annoyed me. But there is a serious point behind the media froth.

Ivell’s reaction was completely over the top. The girl merely stated on Facebook that her job was boring. Stating that in public may have strictly speaking been against her contract, but rationally, who was reading? Ivell’s business would come from entrepreneurs and industrialists interested in manufacturing. The girl’s audience would be her friends and family, possibly some colleagues. The likelihood of Ivell’s customers being among that audience are remote to nil. So why did  Ivell go to the extreme of sacking an employee? No doubt because of the apocalyptic media coverage of the Internet (in this case Facebook in particular).

The problem here isn’t that the technology or Facebook is evil. In fact quite the opposite. The only evil here is the media misrepresenting the technology and the employers over-reaction. Nothing wrong inherently with the technology at all.

We’ve seen the same in the UK this week with the launch of Google street view. If you read the newspapers and even (strangely, despite the self defeating nature of the paradox) online media and news organisations, you’d think it was the work of the devil. But I counter that. I question has any-body’s privacy actually been invaded at all? If the pictures were to somehow show scenes that occurred behind closed doors, that would be different. Bit if you were pictured walking onto a public area coming out of a sex shop, as one man apparently was in the first hours of Google Street View, then who’s fault is that? If you don’t want to be spotted either on the internet, or in real life, walking out of a sex shop, then the simple answer is, don’t walk out of sex shops.

It’s not technology that’s the problem, it’s how people behave and react that’s at fault here.

I recently posted this story… http://www.artofcomplaint.com/?p=318 The sheer stupidity of the action and more so, the reaction, annoyed me. But there is a serious point behind the media froth. Ivell’s...