Topic recap sheet n°5 : Technology, Surveillance and Privacy Content/ Documents : Pictures : Effects of technology Text: I, Narcissist Translation : smartphones transforming social relations Videos: Hasan Elahi : FBI, here I am + EU awareness campaign Civilization / culture : surveillance since 9-11 (timeline of events)
Picture(s) (description & meaning) Description : it’s a picture of a concert hall ; everybody in the audience is filming or taking pictures of the concert instead of truly appreciating it. Meaning : Nowadays, people no longer do enjoy the present moment. No one pays attention to what is around them : they’d rather live the moment through their smartphone than to live it directly, without an intermediary.
Description : a security camera is turned toward the wall, where it is written “what are you looking at”? Meaning : the tag / graffiti is denouncing the lack of privacy because of the presence of security cameras in public places. Yet those cameras provide some security. Do we have to choose between privacy and safety?
Vocabulary English To be guilty
French
ubiquitous
omniprésent
schedule
Emploi du temps
To track
suivre
Etre coupable
English To be naked / in the nude / in one’s birthday suit To take off one’s clothes / to strip To be exposed / to be vulnerable / unprotected To attempt to
French Être nu
Se déshabiller Être à la merci de tous, être vulnérable Essayer de
Private life / privacy obsolete A warrant A law-abiding citizen The surveillance society
La vie privée
followers
Abonnés (réseaux sociaux uniquement)
obsolète Un mandat (de recherche, d’arrêt) Un citoyen honnête
To be obsessed by To suspect
Être obsédé par Suspecter, soupçonner
Dystopian≠ utopian A dystopia≠ utopia A police state
Dystopique ≠utopique Une dystopie≠ utopie Un état policier
La société de surveillance / une société sous surveillance
Recent events, historical & cultural references mentioned in the documents, questions raised by the topic, debates: (+ anything you think is necessary to add, personal knowledge and /or comments for example) -Facial recognition is more and more used so as to help police forces to solve problems. Cameras equipped with the software can match a person’s face to others in a database. But this raises privacy concerns
-
For years, new technologies were seen as a threat for users; now they play such a big role in our lives, especially among young people, that it would be hard for most of them to do without them.
-
Some say social networks increase people’s narcissism. Everybody wants to have as many followers and “thumbs up” as possible. It has become a life goal, and some people make a living of social media.
Key expressions (grammar, syntax, translation difficulties) - Ca fait longtemps que je ne l’ai pas lu : it’s been a while since I read it. -Ca fait longtemps qu’il est en Russie : he has been in Russia for a long time. -Il est grand temps que les utilisateurs comprennent : it’s high time users understood / it’s high time for users to understand -Cela fait peu de temps que les réseaux sociaux existent : Social networks haven’t existed for a long time. Terms of comparison = equality -As if + preterit : as if they were naked -to be similar to = to amount to = to be akin to : it is akin to stripping - as+adj+ as : people are as vulnerable as when … -Like +v-ing : it is like walking down the street in your birthday suit. Document prepared with great care by : Louis, Xavier, Jeff, Florent, Antoine, Coline, Camille.
