The disadvantages of an increasingly transparent world outweigh the advantages - rebuttal speeches

Proposition rebuttal speech

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are being deceived by information technologies. Indeed the comfort they provide seems to prevent us from raising against their disadvantages .Those disadvantages were described by my teammate and can’t be denied. The fact is that information technologies introduced the era of transparency, an era in which everyone can know almost anything about anyone. Wake up, your privacy is not worth the sacrifice you’re willing to make ! (Continues below the fold…)

by YM

Opposition rebuttal speech

On April 3rd 2012, American journalist Paul Miller decided to live for one year without the Internet. One year without Facebook, one year without tweeting every part of his life, one year without checking his email dozens of times every day. Although he felt free at first, he was then assailed by isolation. Transparency creates and reinforces social links. It is a wide source of information and of communication. Detaching yourself from it means you don’t live with your time. Because that’s what today’s world is, a world of communication where information moves faster than ever. (Continues below the fold…)

by MS

Proposition rebuttal speech

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are being deceived by information technologies. Indeed the comfort they provide seems to prevent us from raising against their disadvantages .Those disadvantages were described by my teammate and can’t be denied. The fact is that information technologies introduced the era of transparency, an era in which everyone can know almost anything about anyone. Wake up, your privacy is not worth the sacrifice you’re willing to make !

The opposition entices you to believe that CCTV and, more generally, monitoring can keep the citizens safe. The opposition also brings up the Boston terrorist attacks, arguing that monitoring enabled the FBI to find the culprits. If we look at that from a different angle, it’s the proof that this system is not efficient at all, since those attacks could not be prevented.
  Some might think that even if these attacks couldn’t be prevented, the fact that the culprits were found so quickly will deter other terrorists to attack in the future. This is misjudging the threat. Indeed we are facing a new kind of enemy, people who are strong-willed and ready to die for what they believe is fair. They are not afraid of being caught and this is why CCTV is the least of their problems. The movie “V for Vendetta” illustrates this point very well. In that fiction people have chosen to sacrifice their privacy so that the government would protect them, the result was that this government took advantage of people’s fear to strengthen its power and deprived them of their freedom. The hero “V” led attacks against the government to show people that someone smart and strong-willed enough could always make their sacrifice vain. I’m not saying that terrorists are heros, but their very existence is the proof that technologies who deprive us from our privacy are not efficient enough to protect us.

The naïve opposition also seems to believe that it is easy to compel corporations like Facebook and Google not to misuse the personal data they get with our use of their services. Unfortunately it is very difficult for authorities to even check what kind of data they collect from us. Information technologies brought the average citizens to the era of transparency and the powerful companies to the era of impunity. Indeed it is easy for those big companies to hide the data they collect behind complex encryption algorithms. Even if those powerful corporations didn’t put pressure on the officials not to look into it, the government  would just not be able to enforce the laws meant to potentially protect people’s privacy.

Another common idea is that all that is part of the changes currently occurring in the world and we can’t do anything to prevent it. Progress would be unstoppable. Well, powerful people interfering in peoples’ lives is not progress, it was already a habit of the lords and kings who ruled Europe until the 19th century using spies to gather information. We are heading backwards. Information technologies who were supposed to grant freedom of speech are now being used to spy on average people, to foresee their decisions before they even thing of making them.
  What is even more repealing , is the fact that even those who don’t want to be part of all that can be spied on. Indeed, as soon as you subscribe to Facebook for example, some friends will be suggested to you. It means Facebook has information about you even if you didn’t subscribe to it. Furthermore, the Google Glass that will soon enough be released, will enable Google to collect data about those who don’t intend to buy them, thanks to facial recognition. They will assure you that using those glasses won’t affect your privacy, but do not be fools, they will!
 In the movie “V for Vendetta” people eventually took to the street to regain their freedom. I understand you have other things to do than start riots, but you can start smaller by voting for the motion. Thank you for reading this.

YM

Opposition rebuttal speech

On April 3rd 2012, American journalist Paul Miller decided to live for one year without the Internet. One year without Facebook, one year without tweeting every part of his life, one year without checking his email dozens of times every day. Although he felt free at first, he was then assailed by isolation. Transparency creates and reinforces social links. It is a wide source of information and of communication. Detaching yourself from it means you don’t live with your time. Because that’s what today’s world is, a world of communication where information moves faster than ever.

This is why I call hypocrites those who keep criticizing the Internet. This just shows their unwillingness to accept what is really going on. Transparency has changed society for the better; we now live in a society where a lot of wonderful things are made possible. You update your status on Facebook to show you’re single and that prevents many misunderstandings from happening. And you may even find your soul mate! Who would spit on that? You may write, “information is collected about us”, but using free services like Twitter, Facebook or Google means that you implicitly accept the deal they rely on. Yes, your data is being exchanged, but after all, who would be willing to pay real cash to publish their holiday pictures on social networks? Given the option to pay via credit card to access Google services, I’m sure most people would prefer to give their personal data. And so would you, you hypocritical people from the proposition!

It is your responsibility to control what you publish on social networks, to protect your privacy.  Because that’s the paradox: we want to say and show everything freely, yet we want to protect our private life. Social norms have changed, it has become common to share details about your daily life on social networks. But the truth is Internet users should take part in being careful about the data they show on-line.  Some Internet users share too much: research shows that 4.8 million people have said they planned to go on a date on Facebook, enabling burglars to know precisely when they can break into their house. Were everyone to think before they type, some basic personal information may be kept secret. What’s more, my fellows from the proposition team seem to ignore it, but devices have private settings.  All browsers enable users to control on-line tracking. Facebook recently changed its website in order to make the privacy controls easier to find. You don’t want everyone to see that picture of you dancing naked? You can just remove it in one click! Yet 28% of Facebook users share almost all their posts with more than their circle of friends. You want to have privacy on the Internet, then get involved in your privacy protection, and remember that friends of friends actually means thousands of people.

MJ, you wrote “Observation through security cameras and drones and mobile phone location sensing represent an enormous potential”: you took the words out of my mouth. Today, there are cameras on every street corner. That’s the result of the violent world we live in: terrorist attacks have become an ominous threat that we have to protect ourselves from. These cameras enhance national and international security, and also enable the solving of criminal cases. The Boston bombing investigation has already been brought up in this debate. The suspect of this attack was captured in four days thanks to crowdsourced intelligence gathering. If Big Brother is watching us, he comes with all the little brothers we are, recording everything on our smartphones. Thanks to transparency in the world, people can provide a great amount of information. In Seattle, the Police Department created a program where citizens can report when they spot stolen cars. The network allows you to keep in touch with your friends and family. Important projects are financially enabled thanks to crowdfunding.

The interactivity of the Internet and more and more abundant free content empower us with great tools.

Intrusion in their privacy is the price people agree to pay in exchange of enjoying the huge services the Internet provides. So update your Facebook status and tell your friends you reject this motion!

MS