Technology and Morals ☀
It says fucked up things about the future of democracy online that so many geeks are angry about this meaningless non-issue, and so few object to Jason Chen getting swat-teamed more effectively than Osama bin Laden ever was.
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Listening to this week’s MacBreak Weekly podcast, I became furious at the rah-rah Apple cheerleading and particularly the glee of one popular Mac blogger who seemed to take special delight in Jason Chen’s misfortune. Except for the show host, all the panelists appeared to be in absolute acquiescence to a blatant 4th amendment plundering where an individual, without being charged with a crime, has his home ransacked and all of his computing assets (including an iPad) seized.
Is this the really sorry state of geekdom — not even batting an eye at state thuggery at the behest of corporate overlords for a stupid lousy phone? Can I call in a SWAT team the next time I leave my phone on a bar counter or in the back of a taxi? In Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky writes about a lost cellphone and a boyfriend who used the power of the social networking to raise up a internet response force, to pressure the new finder-owners into doing the right thing and returning the phone. It would have more expedient if they could could have applied some REACT mojo too.
I really don’t care how sleazy Gawker and Gizmodo were. At issue is the draconian military raid enacted for a blasted phone, for which a year from now, will be nothing more than an irrelevant vestige of gadgetry.
Fsck Apple. I love my Macs but this action is way over the top. And the giddy fanboys glowering over Gawker, yet cagey on attributing Apple as the tyrannical monster it’s now channeling are disgusting.
I don’t do a lot of freelancing anymore but a few years ago, my service partner business was my economic lifeblood. While I earned plentiful coin, an act of seizure like this would have completely devastated me and my company. Perhaps Mr. Chen’s occupational suitors will provide him with replacement machines (and lawyers!) so he not suffer any curtailment of “journalistic” duties.
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