Then again, with how much can be done casually by literally anyone who is on the ship, not just starfleet personnel, what even is privacy anymore in 2380?
Pff. I can tell this wasn’t about a real episode because Neelix wasn’t an ensign. Also, he wasn’t on TNG. And the Andorian MILF pussy episode was on Enterprise.
Why can’t people get this stuff right?
It’s way worse than that. People multiple times just ask the computer where people are, and it just tells them. It’s not based on rank, either. One of those random 20th century humans that got Futurama’d into TNG gets the location of the frickin’ captain by just by musing to himself about where he’d be and the proceeds to barge in on negotiations with the Romulans that are about to trigger a war.
Also, if I recall, they barge in on Barclay’s little Troy porno at one point. So just so you know the holodecks don’t seem to have locks.
I think the first case is because the norms and social mores of the age would never be okay with someone doing that, so there are no technical stops in place due to social stops.
The second case is just TV convenience. No way a society with a perfect holodeck doesn’t either lock or has moved past any sexual hangups that a 90s TV audience would have.
More to the point of the “sexy deck”, if there were no locks and people are still prudes, people would not just be fucking away 10ft from the door instead of instancing themselves hundreds of virtual miles away first. Everyone would put at least one Sherwood Forrest between themselves and people snooping.
I’m not sure that the holodeck works like that. I could be wrong but if you go in the holodeck and get in a car and drive 100 miles and then get out and summon the holodeck door…it’s just right there. You don’t have to go back a hundred miles. So there really is no way to put “virtual distance” between you and the door. From my understanding anyway.
But when someone else enters the holodeck through the door, are they virtually right next to you (100 miles from your starting point) or do they also start at your starting point? If two people enter the holodeck together and one person stays near the entrance while the other drives off, then a third person enters the holodeck, where does that third person appear?
To be fair, I already share my location with multiple friends and family. That cat is out of the proverbial bag.
I can easily see the enterprise defaulting to sharing locations, unless asked otherwise. I can also see the crew not caring, unless it’s actually being abused.
The crew absolutely should care, given the number of times shit goes bananas on that ship. The officers have been repeatedly compromised by every sort of physical and mental mayhem-causing malady in the galaxy. They’ve contracted viruses that litterly drive them to do insane things.
Not to mention every single time the ship gets compromised, that data is actively used by the invading party.
All that being said…starship vessels operate like a navy. The Captain has absolute authority over their ship, and that’s necessary because they are the ones with ultimate responsibility for the safety of every living being on it.
So yes, passengers and crew are tracked, and it’s an understandable safety and security tool.
The problem is literally anyone can access that data without any authorization, approval, or rank. That, and individuals do not have the ability to opt out of it should they need to
I agree with most of that. However, do we know that you can’t opt out? The ship will be gathering the data no matter what. Obviously command crew/security likely have an emergency override as well. At that point, it’s just a courtesy situation.
If you’re a petty officer, who needs to deliver a report in person, being able to check where the captain is would be highly useful.
If it’s just a case of saying “Computer. Mark my location as private.” and so lock it down to security critical personnel only, what’s the issue? I suspect it’s just a change of norms in Starfleet.
proceeds to barge in on negotiations with the Romulans that are about to trigger a war.
ON THE BRIDGE NO LESS! Like he apparently has full authorization to go to critical areas of the ship - bridge, engineering, deflector control, etc. (I know he didn’t go those places that we saw, but plenty of other visitors have.)
I’ve often thought about that, too - there’s very little patient privacy. The Captain and First Officer (and supervisors in the chain of command) would need to know if someone is going to be out of commission for a few weeks because of an illness or whatever. And of course leadership needs to know if there’s a mutant virus running around.
But there are a lot of things that it’s like, wait, why is this random person here in the sickbay while we discuss Riker’s latest STD?
While I do agree that patient privacy is especially bad in the shows, I’ve overheard plenty of diagnoses while waiting in waiting rooms and emergency rooms. I don’t try to, but people aren’t as quiet as they thin they are I guess.
So yeah, I’ve absolutely heard some rando in the next bed over has chlamydia because they and their doctor were openly discussing it with 10 other people within earshot.
Yeah that’s definitely true. I’ve been in that situation, too.
But oddly enough strangers hearing about my medical issues is usually less disturbing to me than close friends. I know I should be able to trust the friends more.
Yeah, but who cares if some rando knows your butthole bleeds when you poo. You’re never gonna see them again, they will probably never think about it again.
But people you see every day, and interact with socially?
They see you every day and will probably be reminded of the thing they overheard every so often when they see you.
It is awkward.
But if they’re worthy of your time, they won’t go telling anyone else about it.
It just sits there in their brain.
They can’t un-know.
Serious answer (and retroactive justification). Privacy is a sort of personal property. In a post scarcity society, where personal property is less important, privacy also becomes less important.
If you talk to anyone who grew up in the Soviet Union, you’ll get the impression that the concept of privacy was anathema to their civilization. That didn’t mean that they didn’t do things in secret, like black market dealings and such, but all of this felt surreptitious. Privacy was a vice, not a virtue. In our property oriented civilization, the opposite is the case.
Considering how, half the time, when the person finally manages to tell someone that they’re not feeling well, it’s already halfway through the episode, I think it’s good that they’re able to act fast
