This post isn't about exploiting cheap labor in India.
Or conflict metals in Africa.
But it is a post about the human cost of technology.
Technology has made it easy for us to network and cooperate in ways we never have before. Facebook is one hell of a social network and twitter helped mobilize the Occupy movement. Camera equipped drones keep an eye on both the protesters and the police and cell phones make it easy to relay important messages, which is where we find the down side of cheap technology.
The Mexican drug war is a long standing battle between many parts. Zetas is ruthless and gets away with it, threatening to kill any one who criticizes them on the internet. I had an image of Zetas as low tech, using cell phones and pagers to make deals and organize. When I heard about Anonymous entering the war, I thought 'Fuck Yeah, social technology to the rescue!' Well, I was wrong. Zetas turns out to be tech savvy, operating its own high tech encrypted radio network extending over all of Mexico and parts of South America. So the fat cats are planning their deals over the air waves, using expensive hard to get technology in order to secure themselves from police surveillance. Except, the fat cats are using the internet, the low level thugs use it as an early warning recon system and the technology is so cheap, installing the equipment, complete with solar panels, on a large scale is no problem. Replacing it is a simple matter too. The technology is widely available the police cannot keep up. Some have suggested an arms race, importing and deploying U.S. jamming technology, but this will only work until Zetas acquires new cheap technology to counter the U.S. jammers.
The human cost of cheap technology in Mexico is found among the graves of Zeta's and the cartels victims. The ease at which these gangs have organized to evade the police can be attributed to their understanding of communication technology and there is nothing we can do to stop them without stopping progress in general. It isn't the technology killing the innocent, it is the person who employs technology to kill.
Or conflict metals in Africa.
But it is a post about the human cost of technology.
Technology has made it easy for us to network and cooperate in ways we never have before. Facebook is one hell of a social network and twitter helped mobilize the Occupy movement. Camera equipped drones keep an eye on both the protesters and the police and cell phones make it easy to relay important messages, which is where we find the down side of cheap technology.
The Mexican drug war is a long standing battle between many parts. Zetas is ruthless and gets away with it, threatening to kill any one who criticizes them on the internet. I had an image of Zetas as low tech, using cell phones and pagers to make deals and organize. When I heard about Anonymous entering the war, I thought 'Fuck Yeah, social technology to the rescue!' Well, I was wrong. Zetas turns out to be tech savvy, operating its own high tech encrypted radio network extending over all of Mexico and parts of South America. So the fat cats are planning their deals over the air waves, using expensive hard to get technology in order to secure themselves from police surveillance. Except, the fat cats are using the internet, the low level thugs use it as an early warning recon system and the technology is so cheap, installing the equipment, complete with solar panels, on a large scale is no problem. Replacing it is a simple matter too. The technology is widely available the police cannot keep up. Some have suggested an arms race, importing and deploying U.S. jamming technology, but this will only work until Zetas acquires new cheap technology to counter the U.S. jammers.
The human cost of cheap technology in Mexico is found among the graves of Zeta's and the cartels victims. The ease at which these gangs have organized to evade the police can be attributed to their understanding of communication technology and there is nothing we can do to stop them without stopping progress in general. It isn't the technology killing the innocent, it is the person who employs technology to kill.
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