4 ms·

Only Edward Snowden Can Save James Bond

11 points by buserror 11y ago

mtgx 11y ago
> Knowing everything about everyone is actually of limited use to the good guys. But it’s hugely useful to the bad guys — be they extortionists, terrorists, or power-mad bureaucrats. And if it’s collected, somewhere, be assured the bad guys can get their hands on it. I love that argument. We should use that more. The "a backdoor for the good guys is a backdoor for the bad guys" argument seems to have (mostly) worked in the US at least, and this is just an extension of that but for the broader mass surveillance argument. And another great one: > What if mass surveillance by an ostensibly beneficent national government really means that whatever the government collects is de facto transparent to SPECTRE, SMERSH, Kaos, the mob, the cartels, Carlos the Jackal, ISIS, and Vladimir Putin? It reminds me of this post that was on HN earlier this year, too, about how the Nazi used the Dutch registry to find where the Jews were and exterminate them: > Once the civil registry was in the hands of the enemy the extermination program for Amsterdam based Jews (those that had not fled) moved into high gear and street after street was raided. Entire neighbourhoods stood empty. The importance of the registry was not lost on the resistance who planned and executed a brave attack (Dutch) to destroy as much of the registry as they could by firebombing it after subduing the guards. http://jacquesmattheij.com/if-you-have-nothing-to-hide http://jacquesmattheij.com/if-you-have-nothing-to-hide In other words, this isn't just a theory that the bad guys have more use for this centralized "everything about everyone" information, but it has actually happened. Of course all of the data breaches we see these days serve to show that point as well. Maybe we need to ramp up our own campaign that tries to demolish the "mass surveillance keeps you safe" message with the "mass surveillance puts you in danger" message.
- buserror 11y ago
  That's the scary bit, and it seems nobody actually groks that. Asks people, they are happy for their supermarket to track them, the utility companies to track them and as for the state, the argument 'but, I have nothing to hide' is typical... And they don't realize that it's when that data will go astray that Bad Things happends... and data WILL escape, either by bad guys getting their hands on them, or these companies selling it on.

11 points by buserror 11y ago

mtgx 11y ago

> Knowing everything about everyone is actually of limited use to the good guys. But it’s hugely useful to the bad guys — be they extortionists, terrorists, or power-mad bureaucrats. And if it’s collected, somewhere, be assured the bad guys can get their hands on it. I love that argument. We should use that more. The "a backdoor for the good guys is a backdoor for the bad guys" argument seems to have (mostly) worked in the US at least, and this is just an extension of that but for the broader mass surveillance argument. And another great one: > What if mass surveillance by an ostensibly beneficent national government really means that whatever the government collects is de facto transparent to SPECTRE, SMERSH, Kaos, the mob, the cartels, Carlos the Jackal, ISIS, and Vladimir Putin? It reminds me of this post that was on HN earlier this year, too, about how the Nazi used the Dutch registry to find where the Jews were and exterminate them: > Once the civil registry was in the hands of the enemy the extermination program for Amsterdam based Jews (those that had not fled) moved into high gear and street after street was raided. Entire neighbourhoods stood empty. The importance of the registry was not lost on the resistance who planned and executed a brave attack (Dutch) to destroy as much of the registry as they could by firebombing it after subduing the guards. http://jacquesmattheij.com/if-you-have-nothing-to-hide http://jacquesmattheij.com/if-you-have-nothing-to-hide In other words, this isn't just a theory that the bad guys have more use for this centralized "everything about everyone" information, but it has actually happened. Of course all of the data breaches we see these days serve to show that point as well. Maybe we need to ramp up our own campaign that tries to demolish the "mass surveillance keeps you safe" message with the "mass surveillance puts you in danger" message.

buserror 11y ago
That's the scary bit, and it seems nobody actually groks that. Asks people, they are happy for their supermarket to track them, the utility companies to track them and as for the state, the argument 'but, I have nothing to hide' is typical... And they don't realize that it's when that data will go astray that Bad Things happends... and data WILL escape, either by bad guys getting their hands on them, or these companies selling it on.