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by q2
4160 days ago
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One thing that surprised me is, how common it is having secret, confidential, access-restricted rooms/facilities at American technology companies, where new technology/products are developed. We read in the tech press, how much secretive Apple is. Even this article, mentions confidential room related thing in the beginning of the article itself. It seems, tech industry implicitly consider the presence of secret/confidential rooms/facilities/projects as a badge of honour.It is more surprising, given American political leaders speak of free or open society unlike closed ones like North Korea (perception-wise). I get the impression that, as a society, you want to be open but in the industry, you want to be closed/highly secretive and in personal life, privacy is preferred. (i.e. not open/sharing all aspects). This appears contradicting each other and it suggests that, guiding principle is not openness/freedom itself but selecting profitable/suitable style and spreading forcibly across the globe. Many countries/cultures cannot really comprehend these sharp edges/changes and this partly explains the tensions/conflicts in the world. |
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In contrast, in a place like North Korea, there isn't quite the same level of choice. Censorship prohibits me from saying certain things and surveillance makes it difficult to hide other things, regardless of whether I want to or not.
That said, you could certainly argue (and many have argued) that a company placing onerous restrictions on what its employees can say or do is contrary to the principles of an open society, the implication being that the power dynamics in a employment relationship make restrictions on employees less than voluntary.