For the past few years, many have raised concerns over the hegemony of a few big companies and their ability to track information about what we do. After Snowden's revelations, we know that this extends to many national governments and spy agencies across the world.
These concerns are quite real, and I'm glad we're having a public conversation on them. But they pale in comparison to what the Chinese government was able to accomplish.
China
Most people have no idea what's happening in China.
A well produced video reportage by The New York Times gives a peek into this very different world, where a sheltered internet has given rise to a new breed of app.
The SuperApp
When we think of applications and how we do things, we think Facebook for friends, Instagram for photos, reddit for discussions, Yelp for restaurants, WhatsApp for chatting, PayPal for payments, Amazon for Ecommerce, Medium (and steemit?) for blogging, etc.
You get the point.
But that's not how Chinese think. Enter WeChat.
WeChat is a monstrous giant that is capable of doing pretty much all the above, all within the same application, and practically every person in China who has an internet connection is using it.
It has over a billion created accounts and 700 million active users. And that's pretty much just for one country: China.
It does text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast messaging, video conferencing, video games, built in photo editing, location sharing, payments, customer reviews, and I wouldn't be surprised if it soon started making your coffee.
And we know that the Chinese government heavily restricts and controls the internet. It has unprecedented access to all the data it wants, including that of WeChat.
If you want to do any business in China, you have to bow down and accept the government's strict rules. The recent Uber-Didi's Chinese Mega Deal gave american companies a taste of that.
The Future
This is a glimpse of where we could be headed ourselves. The big f, the big a, and the big g are already working towards this, whether you have noticed or not.
What does this mean for our future? What is the extend to which we can (or should) trust corporations and governments with our data, the knowledge of our habits, our political leanings, our moral views, what we buy, where we go, who we meet up with?
Is this inevitable? Are you concerned? What role will blockchains and cryptocurrencies play in this game?
Share your thoughts.
It's all politics and power of a influence!
That's just scary... Big Brother!
I disagree on the headline statement...
things may have been moving in that direction - but there's been enough people cluing in and creating alternative systems to change the outcomes.
blockchain tech is a MAJOR piece in altering that course, undoubtedly.
the movement towards decentralization, cryptocurrency adoption, etc is growing quick. there's an acceleration occuring of both forces - though ultimately, they'll balance each other out - and it's up to each individual as to whether they want to resort to surrendering their personal willpower over to "the powers that be," or opt out of that system and choose self-determination, contributing to the emerging socio-economic systems based in higher consciousness...
Steemit is a PERFECT example case and point.
Obviously there are a lot of global elite mega powers that are constantly striving for more power and control yet there are many like those a part of this community who are going in a different direction.
There is always hope and the truth is that WE are the power. It is time we claim it~*~
well said
This is as scary as the sesame credit system they are bringing in there, if you don't know what that is then Google it. It terrified me.
from one tip of that iceberg
Is this something that can be believed ?
If this used against tourists and foreign business people trading in country it could end China's trade threat status.
My biggest hope for blockchain and cryptocurrencies is that they destroy the Federal Reserve. That is inevitable, but I think this tech will make it happen faster. A system like that will always collapse because it is simply unsustainable. After the Fed is no longer controling us, people can actually have access to the truth on a mass scale and make better decisions about their financial future. Everything has already been set up for us by extraordinary minds, we just have to take advantage of it.
On a side note, I wonder how The Chinese government is able to process all kf that information. Do they just file it away under every person's name? Do they search for key words? That amount of data is useless if they can't organize it and actually use it.
WeChat is great app that is using by Chineses, this is wonderful figure 700 million active users.
I believe that everything we transmit or receive electronically is being monitored. But I don't transmit anything I am ashamed of, so I don't care.
China is on severe caffeine withdrawals > Intense.
i am ashamed of nothing so its ok for me too :P
It serves also to prepare the people for transhumanism, no? The merging of man with machines which is the only hope the monstrous controllers have, i'm sure, of "everlasting life"!
It seems like it's not an easy task - to control, analyze and store such a volume of data. So not necessarily someone has an eye on you.
At the same time lots of people are bothered by it, but if so, maybe they should choose what they're using and do it more consciously?
Because even the internet itself is giving a lot of benefits, but also a possibilities for scam and fraud. So you just need to be aware and able to protect yourself where it's nesessary.
I guess the blockchain is a logical and safest choise for that - we have nothing better than this for the moment, and yet it's a very beginning.
With IBM getting into the cryptocurrency game, it's only a matter of time until the Feds decide that unregulated, decentralized money is too awful to be allowed to survive on its own. I don't know what all they could do without restrict internet access, but they've already got their fingers in the pie thanks to the FCC and Net Neutrality.
Then again, who knows? People in this country love to take things lying down time and time again, but every once in a while something manages to light a fire under people's asses.
This is why I've turned my back on my Big Brother. So many entities out there vying for complete control over everyone.
A few years back, I worked for a digital marketing firm, back when big data was more in it's infancy and I was both surprised and scared by what basic machine learning could do. Now with the fusion of Big Data, Machine Learning and the Super App, I'm thinking of becoming a Luddite.
Upvoted (without a doubt) and I am now following you. I will be featuring this post on my daily gems blog this evening. Keep the awesome content rolling.
I believe that human beings gradually have been finding ways to "cheat" the system and even start to destroy it piecemeal, one at a time ... consider that the whole system is mounted as now, is the product of hundreds and even thousands of years down the road. But like any system, it is vulnerable, is hackable. Since the Renaissance we have found a way to fight this "monster of a thousand heads" gaining more and more space. even with all that, all the power is concentrated in 1% of the population while millions starve and also destroy the planet. It is a reflection of our failure as a species and civilization.
We have long way to go yet, and bloakchain, for me, is part of the hope that is still possible to build a more equitable, just and better distributed. For me, Bloackchain has the ability to cause an even greater stir than the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution or the internet. Its impact on society is not only innovation but more human justice. That I have my Espar, technology or leads to the destruction or leads to salvation.
I only imagine the creation of a decentralized government and implementation of decentralized economic policies could save my country from self-destruction. Save us from the corruption
So sad. I didn't know about we chat, but this isn't surprising! FYI, I'd like to share this post on my Really American FB page that has 15k followers, but the image doesn't display at all for some reason. FYI, my fans are almost all Berniecrats and they love Snowden. If content I post does well from Steemit on my FB page then I'll email it to my 50k+ email list. Would you have interest in writing more content specifically targeting my Berniecrat audience?
I also am not ashamed, but a friend pointed out to me that privacy is still important. It's a right that should be protected, and monitoring should be mostly limited to preventing crime. (Some limited data collection for user-experience is ok when kept securely private. It should only be sold in aggregate-form disconnected from identity.)
Since Snowden's revelations, I don't fear increased data capture because the NSA is already basically capturing everything. There isn't much more the government can take and process other than increasing their domestic surveillance drones and stingrays:
https://www.wired.com/2014/11/feds-motherfng-stingrays-motherfng-planes/
I think the best hope is to slowly increase your off-the-grid presence and lifestyle and embrace cryptos as much as possible. I'll admit, I have been inconsistent with my off-the-gridiness, so I have a lot of work to do myself.