The Shadow Surveillance State Is Really a Secret Religion

[Grizzly]

^^^ You've got aright to your opinions as ignorant as they are...

A phone the FBI sold to criminals
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27773732

Belgian boffins dump Starlink dish terminal's firmware, gain root access and a few ideas
https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/08/belgian_boffins_dump_starlink_dish/

New EDRi report reveals depths of biometric mass surveillance in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland
https://edri.org/our-work/new-edri-report-reveals-depths-of-biometric-mass-surveillance-in-germany-the-netherlands-and-poland/

[DrEvil]

If I'm ignorant of something then by definition I don't know what it is, so some clarification would be helpful.

[Harvey]

If I'm ignorant of something then by definition I don't know what it is, so some clarification would be helpful.

Surely, the point is that phones are voluntary, this system and it's offshoots probably isn't. For example, I understood at the advent of the Iphone that I would never own one, I understood clearly why. I never have, nor any other 'smart' phone. Like other technologies which are very useful, I neither want nor require anything they offer, but that remains my choice.

[Grizzly]

I neither want nor require anything they offer, but that remains my choice.

Indeed, for now.

[DrEvil]

If I'm ignorant of something then by definition I don't know what it is, so some clarification would be helpful.

Surely, the point is that phones are voluntary, this system and it's offshoots probably isn't. For example, I understood at the advent of the Iphone that I would never own one, I understood clearly why. I never have, nor any other 'smart' phone. Like other technologies which are very useful, I neither want nor require anything they offer, but that remains my choice.

I get that, but you can't deny that the vast majority have one anyway. You can disconnect and still get along for now, but it's getting harder and harder. I finally gave in a few months ago simply because everything here is now built on the assumption that everyone has a smartphone. When they rolled out the vaccine passport it didn't even occur to the developers that there were people who didn't have phones, so they didn't even plan for it. Not that fuck-ups in that particular program wasn't nice and all, but it shows the mindset.

And for those that refuse to get one it's all the other shit, like cameras on every corner, facial recognition, everybody else's phones, license plate readers, etc. Unless you live in the woods completely off-grid you're caught up in the surveillance dragnet one way or another, and living off-grid is probably grounds for extra attention.

I just think the idea of implanted chips is pointless when we're already there. Just look at how many refuse the covid vaccines, and then imagine people's reaction if someone tried chipping them or their children.

It's easier and less painful to just get people to do it to themselves. Make living in the modern world a pain in the ass without a smartphone and almost everyone will eventually cave. Wanna use your local bank? Sorry, we don't have physical locations any more, it's all done online. How do you access your account? 2FA on your phone.

Then fast forward ten years when augmented reality becomes viable. Now they see what you see and who you see, and can change what you see. Want to kill some annoying journalist? Just make him not see that car.

[Grizzly]

Take your jab, and STFU, Dr.E ...

[Wombaticus Rex]

Take your jab, and STFU, Dr.E ...

This adds nothing, please rein yourself in. This is playground shit. Stop.

[stickdog99]

"If you live in the 21st century, you should have no expectation of privacy anyway, so why do you care if you are further catalogued by corporations and governments without your assent?"

Maybe it's just because of my age, but I find this "argument" particularly heinous. I didn't agree to any of breeches of my privacy. I was forced into almost all of them by my employers under duress. That I accepted them temporarily in order to make my rent does not imply that I now feel that I have no right to privacy.

[Belligerent Savant]

.
From 2011, and then 2014.





http://content.time.com/time/interactiv ... %2C00.html


"Progress".

[DrEvil]

Take your jab, and STFU, Dr.E ...

I was using the vaccines as a current example of government mandates* that gets a lot of people angry. You right now are a great example of the kind of rage they can expect if they try to push implanted chips on people. I can practically hear your veins popping from across the Atlantic.

* Not technically mandatory, but they're making it hard to avoid it, just like using a phone.

[DrEvil]

.
From 2011, and then 2014.





http://content.time.com/time/interactiv ... %2C00.html


"Progress".

"Progress just means bad things happen faster."
- Terry Pratchett

Honestly I think we're in the early stages of the singularity right now, but it's more like a slow singularity rather than Vinge's exponential explosion. It's the cumulative effect of many small changes, not one big thing. There's also so many technologies that are almost there with huge potential to upend our lives. Quantum computing, biotech, AI and cheap access to space to name a few, all of which have the potential to amplify and feed off each other for even more radical change.

[Grizzly]

"They're Coming For All Of Us, PAY ATTENTION!" | Edward Snowden (2021)
Jul 9, 2021