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What Are We Building Here? Software Ethics in a Time of Surveillance – Andrew C. Stone, stone.com pdf | 7 | ||||
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 In 1791, Architect and nascent Social Engineer Jeremy Bentham invented the Panopticon - a design that applied equally well to prisons, mental hospitals and schools. By placing the inmates in a circular configuration around the one-way mirrored central viewing station, the inmates would never know if they were being watched or not. But the effect is the same: self-policing takes over when someone feels they are being watched. A democracy relies on open and reliable information to stay strong and healthy - but that's not the trend we are seeing. 90 million documents were made secret in 2011 - a ten-fold increase over the number made secret in 2001. 
So what does all of this have to do with being a software engineer? It's us creating the groovy Twitter apps, Candy Crushes, and other mind-numbing and addictive interactions. In the past year, I've been noticing more and more people checked out on their devices and not interacting with each other, even when in social situations. | |||||