Awesome video: we are building transparent machines of business exploiting society

This fabulous video brings together a succinct telling of the privacy story of today with some exceptional 3D graphic animations and great sound. Watch it! (preferably full screen)

Transparent Machines™ from beeple on Vimeo.

In the Privacy section of our 2014: Crunch Time report we wrote:

After years of erosion, all the outer layers of our privacy have vanished, leaving the core of who we are exposed. This enables corporations and government agencies to know us literally better than we know ourselves, in our behaviors and inclinations. Facial recognition is moving beyond recognizing us wherever we go, to being able to pick up the micro-muscle movements in our face and uncover our hidden emotions. Yet the erosion of privacy goes two ways, and institutions are rapidly losing their secrets and ability to hide their intentions from us.

Response

The debate on privacy cannot be private, it must be open and engaged, so citizens and consumers understand and are comfortable with how personal information is used. The purported value of having our personal information gathered must be made clear, highly specific, and constrained. This just might shift the debate.

Yes we are living in a transparent world. The reality is that transparency is constructed, as in the Transparent Machines metaphor. Some of that transparency has been enabled by individuals, but much of it is institutional. We need to understand what transparent machines are being built, and respond to it.

Hattip: Squidly Digital