Unfortunately, with the advancement of technology there are a load of privacy issues and while there are general tort laws that guide and defamation, slander, libel suits, for the most part the laws have not caught up or have made it rather difficult for the victims or plaintiffs to seek justice.
As it is, people have their private information hacked into i.e. banking codes etc. and while most people see it on the news, say “Glad that was not me,” they then quickly forget about it unless they are affected and/or effected by those same issues. So while there are a lot of people who are disappointed with Apple not handing out a back door to unlock the iphone, I am pretty glad they are not and will most likely buy another one of their phones just to support the cause.
Apple rejects order to unlock gunman’s phone – http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35594245
Problem with people saying that terrorists need to be stopped, is that it also allows governments, and more unscrupulous people to wreck havoc on your lives. But I also tend to be cautious and prefer to not leap to conclusions which makes me a good scientist and lawyer but a bad people person. However, I would rather live in my rose colored glasses world then end up a Nazi supporter any day. You have to remember that most Nazi supporters around WWII started out thinking that the Nazi party was just helping nationalism. It took the Nazi’s how long before WWII, concentration camps, and a destroyed national sense? Pretty much a few years – that was without technology as advanced as ours… If you have not guessed this is my response to John McAfee’s argument in supporting the government…
People often laugh at the lawyers who are carrying around binders at the court houses saying that we are in the dark ages. However, those people at the Hollywood Hospital have now gone back to the dark ages and are taking notes with paper and pen. Whether we like it or not, outdated and tried and trued instrumentation is actually the best way to store private data now. Pen and paper is just harder to track and find without getting caught because you need to sift through papers even if you know what you are looking for. Outdated technology like the 1.5 floppy drivers are probably great storage devices because most people throw away old technology for new ones and how many have a function old piece of equipment lying around?
There is a good reason for the UK storing all their laws on vellum and then archived. Did you know that there is a copy of the Magna Carta still fully readable in vellum?
Unfortunately, people who are caught tampering with electronic data and such which are then used to fool the general public into thinking that others are not who they they claim they are or who then have to waste time defending themselves against slander, libel, and other sorts of defamation are often times stuck in a vicious cycle.
Lucky for Mark Rubio, he has a group of people paid and otherwise, who are scanning all the calls and video to prove that he did not say “The good book does not have many answers in it,” when he actually said, [The good book has] “all the answers in it.” So Ted Cruz has made an apology and his staffer resigned but without people like that going to jail or making restitution of some sort, the typical person will no likely go off and spread rumors and lies just because they can get away with it.
We really need to take a stand on defamation, slander, and libel especially with the advent of the internet. While I like to fact check and ask people lots of questions, most people just accept everything as true because there is a video, a clip, etc. Remember the lady from USDA who Obama had to apologize to because she was fired for a 5 minute video where she said that “she did not like white farmers”? Nope, of course not. But go and look it up. It was a Fox news video that edited the 45 minute speech into 5 minutes. The video went viral and embarrassed the Obama administration. She was fired from her job. Obama later called the woman and offered her, her old position. She rightfully said, “No thank you Mr. President,” and ended up with a hefty settlement.
So if the President of the US can apologize to someone for jumping the gun and screwing up their reputation, most other people should. In this case, while Ted Cruz’s communications coordinator was asked to “resign” he was not fired and all he had to do was say, “I’ve deleted the post because I would not knowingly post a false story.” But the fact remains that I did post it when I should have checked its accuracy first. I regret the mistake.” (Mr. Tyler) He does not have to pay a fine, he does not have to do jail time, he is not going to remember not to do this again because there is no accountability. Mr.Tyler is most likely going to wait until nobody remembers this news article and easily find another job.
US Election 2016: Cruz fires top aide over fake Rubio video –http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-35636412
Current Mood: Disheartened by technology and the Presidential campaign. This year’s presidential campaigns have just showed the world that it does not matter how old you are but that name calling is alive and well, spreading rumors about people are fine because there are no real consequences, and people are truly getting stupider with technology – see the Google makes us feel smarter than we really are post and scientific journal article from awhile back.
If aliens came from another universe right now and checked in on the Presidential campaigns right now, either we are going to have “Independence Day” or they would just ignore us and think Earth is a primitive backwater hole.
