I like to think that I am an above-average user of technology by American standards. And yet, if I am overwhelmed by the sheer knowledge of networks, software and hardware that is becoming required in our digital age, what implications does this have for the less savvy, if not downright technophobic among us?

And from a social justice and social control perspective: Who keeps the keys, who can get them, what rules do we draw about using them, and hell, could we even enforce those rules anyway?

The sheer powerlessness we all have compared to this faceless, mindless, multi-headed, and inherently ethics-free technical beast¹ has me feeling disenfranchised, disenchanted, disaffected, and discombobulated by it all.

Join me in my mood, won’t you? Here’s what I’ve read recently(-ish) that has me wanting to move to some remote, uninhabited, no-tech island.

Malwebolence

The New York Times Magazine looks at the culture of internet trolls and online harassment. A few paragraphs seem like a crock of bullsh*t from a movie script somewhere. And yet, maybe it was real and knowing or not knowing is part of the point.

Everyware: The dawning age of ubiquitous computing

Adam Greenfield’s look at the ethical, social and moral issues surrounding pervasive and ubiquitous computing. My main thought while reading this was “Where are we going to find the energy for this always-on network of interlinked technologies and at what economic and environmental cost?” I had more thoughts that focused on the social justice implications of ubicomp too, but the sustainability concern loomed largest.

Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Test Your ISP

Our aim is to ensure that the Internet community has the tools and organization to quickly recognize when ISPs engage in interference or protocol discrimination in the future.

Travelers’ Laptops May Be Detained At Border

Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed. Of interest? Truecrypt

A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present

A look at the history of the United States in a way that centers the experiences of non-rich, non-capitalist, non-white, non-Christian and/or non-male people. This book really changed my perspective on what it means to be a citizen of the United States and the steady stream of propaganda we’re fed, even by “liberal” media outlets.

Your Privacy Is An Illusion: Privacy advocates nearly publish guide to carjacking Google executive

Well, it is an illusion, particularly as technology becomes more pervasive and more entrenched in our lives.² The comments are particularly fun.

OSS voices must be heard in national security debate

A FASCINATING review of Christine Peterson’′s OSCON 2008 presentation / opinion piece by Ryan Paul of Ars Technica on the role of open source developers and the security of our technical infrastructure. Resistance, however, is not enough. In order to overcome such challenges, technology enthusiasts must find better ways to address the underlying problems that seemingly necessitate the faulty solutions.

Objection

Firefox extension for deleting Flash’s Local Shared Objects or “Flash Cookies.” Did you know Flash stored those? And that merely deleting your cookies doesn’t delete this data? And how many web sites do you visit every day that serve rich media ads? Yeah. Install this one.

Possibly related

• Who do you trust more: Corporations or Government?
• Yahoo! Mash: an interesting exercise in trust and control
• Why I went private on Twitter
• Recommended: “SNS visibility norms (a response to Scoble)”
• Ethics, friendships and Flickr (or “Why I don”t drink around some folks”)
• Recommended: Jeremy Keith’s “Lock up your data”
• Is Google evil?

¹ Yes, I realize that computers can only do what we tell them to do. But as anyone who uses technology knows, engineers, designers, and developers have a mediocre track record with regards to the ethical, moral, social, privacy, and security concerns of the technology they (we) build. And with any technology, people will use it in unexpected, even malevolent ways.

² Honestly, whatever notion of privacy that existed in a pre-tech world really hinges on obscurity and the footwork someone is willing to put in. Birth records? Property records? Tax returns? Your friends, enemies, and associates? It’s all there for the aggregating.

In one of my moments of Random Thoughtitude, I was thinking about what my ideal country would look like. My first thought was infrastructure. I want a government that adequately funds and maintains a viable, nation-wide mass transit system and mandates bike lanes on every road. I want an educational system that actually teaches kids.

My next thought was: and what if our telecommunications infrastructure was owned and maintained by the government? What if our cable wires, our radio, our phone lines, and — the thing that sparked my original thought — our Internet were seen as massive public works projects on the order of sewers and roads?

Corporations would then compete in other ways. They might, for example, offer special content and charge for access to it. Or they might sell the hardware to connect to this otherwise national infrastructure.

Telecommunications, and the Internet in particular, has become this sort of basic, critical business commodity that is key to economic growth. But the corporations that run them are either too concerned with profits or really don’t have enough capital to upgrade their networks.

And we wouldn’t have this ‘Net Neutrality issue of corporations wanting to charge more or limit the flow of certain forms of data because boo-frickin-hoo, they don’t want to invest in their systems. Corporations are, after all, legally-bound to pursue profit. Their decisions must be made — for the bottom line, not the common good. Our government, on the other hand, would really have to treat all data the same and invest in our systems because we were all paying for it with our tax dollars.

Makes perfect sense, right?

Or does it? I thought some more and remembered that China controls its Internet infrastructure. And they have a few issues with censorship. Ditto Iran.

Our own government also has issues with freedom and privacy. Maybe handing them the keys to the Internet car would not be such a good idea after all.

I realized then that this is a pretty big conundrum. I wholeheartedly believe that corporations are evil, heartless, parasites who are incapable of doing The Right Thing unless it will make money. But I also believe the U.S. government is more concerned with maintaining power, control, and protecting their own personal safety and wealth than with building a just, free, and fair society.

So the question becomes: Who do you trust more? Corporations or Government?

And as importantly, what entities do you trust or would you trust? What does your ideal nation look like?