@jpoesen@social.jpoesen.com Back in the 1970s, when I was a young videographer we saw the new portable 30 pound video cameras as a means to democratize the corporate oligarch controlled world of tv by empowering dispossessed communities to define themselves, not to be caricatured and defined by a handful of rich white men. Cable tv local stations, then the internet became that path. However, even then, 50 years ago, we warned that that was only half the equation and that other half held a totalitarian threat: any plugged in or connected device held the potential to spy on you. Back then, the option to disconnect on your terms was more obvious: manually disconnect any device from its power source or transmission point, so it can't use your power to spy on you. (Metaphorically and electronically) Since I also trained as a sound engineer and got to tour a professional post-production ADR studio and met an engineer who had worked for the US government on developing sound eavesdropping tech in the 70s, I had seen the sophistication of tech back then, it's more ubiquitous now. Does manually unplugging still work today? I don't know. Does turning off a cell disconnect me or do I pull the battery? I know I avoid adding smart appliances (no smart tv, or worn devices, or Alexa, etc) to reduce the number of things to disconnect, but I remain vulnerable with this tiny smart phone and wifi. Everything has a plus and a minus. Anything you embrace contains a threat. Critical thinking requires us to temper our hope and enthusiasm for the new with factual clear-eyed witness to the truths we may not wish to see. Social media, AI, data centers, starlink, driverless cars, etc are all meeting their tipping point. This is a good point in time, as much as it is the worst time. Be clear-eyed. #media #socialmedia #democracy