TECHKNOW: Paranoid Much?

[17 March 2006]
by Yusuf Osman & Kimberly Springer

You know how some people still fear that a camera turned on one's visage captures one's soul? Well, some part of our selves is certainly caught up by today's 'watchful' technology.

...Safety & security fun for the whole family can be found at MapSexOffenders.com. After checking a popup box agreeing not to do vigilante violence with information gleaned from the site, anyone in 42 out of the 50 states can enter an address and see where the local rapist, flasher and Chester the Child Molester have decided to settle post-prison. Since the service isn't available in the UK, I mapped my parent's address in the US: more than 50 sex offenders are in their area code. If teens are already used to being monitored, websites such as these both cautionary and highlight the vagaries of surveillance: if you commit the crime, do the time…forever. ...