Wednesday, September 10, 2008

What does freedom to do what is right have to do with a manual override?

I am sure you are confused by the title and the tagline. They may not seem to fit to you, however, somewhere in my twisted mind, they do.

To do what is right, you must be able to do what is wrong. To do either, you must be able to make a choice. Freedom is the state of being able to make a choice.

The question is now, who is in control? Do you control your technology, or does it control you? Do you control what your PC or your phone is doing? Do you even have a real way of knowing what it is doing? Think about these things next time you fire up your PC. If you have no way of knowing what it is doing, do you trust those who made it to work only in your best interest?

If not, you really need to examine how you use that machine. You need to consider changing things so you are in control. Install the Manual Override. Make sure it has an off switch, and use it from time to time. Look at the inner workings of the applications and operating systems you are using and make sure no one is using your information in a way your would not approve of.

It may be odd for a tech blog to start out by advocating turning off the power switch, but if it is the only freedom you have, you just may need to exercise it.

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