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What does tech savvy really mean?
Assuming a good percentage of members here, by their very presence on this forum, could be considered "tech savvy", I have the following question.
The Snowden revelations have thrown clear light on NSA and GCHQ data gathering activities. Less well known and publicised, however, has been the complicity in this quest of tech monoliths such as Google, Apple, Microsoft and Co. Not to mention individual ISP's through which all our net trafic passes
The question therefore is:
How can people here appear to be "tech savvy" yet openly proclaim their undying love for any product or service provided by Google, as just one example.
Comments
Why should one exclude the other?
People here love cheap. They love it even more when it's free.
The two are not connected ideals - your logic is flawed here.
I do believe Google is one of the highest committers on the Linux Kernel, Microsoft open sourced their .Net MVC 6 framework, Apple contributes to the WebKit engine (looking for straws here), the NSA contributed greatly to cryptography, etc. All these tech organizations have given a lot to the community.
Savvy simply by definition means to "know" and/or "understand", no point trying to make something out of the phrase that does not exist.
Being tech savvy implies a broad understanding of tech.
If a service improves my quality of life or makes my life easier or more efficient, I'm going to use it. I'm not nearly interesting enough for the NSA. I consider myself "tech savvy" given that I am a technian at a computer repair shop, install complex computer networks in my spare time, and run an IT company the other half of the day. So I don't see how your logic makes sense. In fact it is completely illogical.
"tech savvy" doesn't mean "wallet happy". Nobody here have adequate amount of capital to build own backbone and recreate ARPA like network.
@sally Because they are idiots.
Also being tech-savvy doesn't necessarily require being tech-conscious or being interested in important topics like freedom of speech, net neutrality, right to private life and communications.
This is a very harsh and one-sided comment about a very subjective topic.
By the time the NSA goes to Googsoft for data on you. You've already screwed up your opsec so badly you have a targeting drone following you around.
They have access to the main pipes anything else is just sugar on top.
Could be off topic. But the writing sounds like it came from an article spinner
Interesting responses. My idea was that a tecchie builds or purchases a communications device which gets hooked up to a telephone line and, well, begins communicating. How knowledgeable, I thought, are these guys of what communication across phone lines actually involves.
@jcaleb Who did you have in mind??
I think I get it. Could be non English guy and communicating via google translate or something
Were my initial thoughts also...
;-)
I don't have idea what this means.
Google translate..??
Oh, those people you described are called "Alay".
Okay, here's a link which is over one year old. Is anybody even aware of news stories like this??
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/aug/02/telecoms-bt-vodafone-cables-gchq
It's like asking how many people who drive cars know how their cars work, most don't. Tools are a means to an end.
The term is subjective. For me, anyone who understands the the fundamental concepts of computer science and information processing itself could call themselves "tech savvy". You know, information theory, Turing-complete machines, von Neumann architecture and the likes.
An effete iPod/iPhone owner who runs a blogmight claim to be their own version of tech savvy though.
Sorry time for me to check out.
What?? No mention of James Bond, before you go??