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Programs like COTRAVELER should be common knowledge here on HN. Therefor, every HN who chooses to carry their tracking device must believe that such a program (

by pdkl95 11y ago

Programs like COTRAVELER should be common knowledge here on HN. Therefor, every HN who chooses to carry their tracking device must believe that such a program (and the surveillance state in general) is not a credible risk. Is this certainty due to the current state of privilege enjoyed by the average Silicon Valley tech employee? Is this a consequence of the notoriously bad human capability for risk assessment? I suspect that the risks of allowing both business and government to generate realtime location maps and infer relationship information are overlooked because it is easy to be distracted by shiny baubles and clever gadgets while ignoring the tracking device those baubles and gadgets are tied to. So go ahead, be happy with all of the cool toys you get to use with your phone. I hope you're also happy with the surveillance state you're helping to create. If you're lucky, nobody will use those records of your associations in the future for some ugly purpose.

avoutthere 11y ago
Do you drive a car? License plate readers and associated location tracking software are becoming increasingly commonplace. Are you also "helping to create" "the surveillance state"?
- pdkl95 11y ago
  Yes, I have a car[1]. There is little comparison between license plates and cell phones. If you think they are remotely comparable, you don't understand how COTRAVELER works. Maybe I should revise my assumption that it was common knowledge on HN. License plates do not give away your location every few minutes. License plates only show a car's location, which may map to one or more people. License plates do not follow you into buildings, across different cars or other forms of transportation. More importantly, it is difficult to participate in modern society without a form of transportation, which is usually a car. The cell phone is absolutely not a requirement, even though a lot of addicted people like to claim otherwise. A landline has none of these tracking issues, and suffices perfectly well for most needs (which are different from wants aka luxuries). So yes, unlike with a car, if you choose to carry a cell phone, you are absolutely contributing to the surveillance state, and pretending otherwise doesn't make your culpability in it go away. [1] It doesn't see much use these days due to an unfortunate medical situation, but I would be driving that car if it was safe.

by pdkl95 11y ago

avoutthere 11y ago

Do you drive a car? License plate readers and associated location tracking software are becoming increasingly commonplace. Are you also "helping to create" "the surveillance state"?

pdkl95 11y ago
Yes, I have a car[1]. There is little comparison between license plates and cell phones. If you think they are remotely comparable, you don't understand how COTRAVELER works. Maybe I should revise my assumption that it was common knowledge on HN. License plates do not give away your location every few minutes. License plates only show a car's location, which may map to one or more people. License plates do not follow you into buildings, across different cars or other forms of transportation. More importantly, it is difficult to participate in modern society without a form of transportation, which is usually a car. The cell phone is absolutely not a requirement, even though a lot of addicted people like to claim otherwise. A landline has none of these tracking issues, and suffices perfectly well for most needs (which are different from wants aka luxuries). So yes, unlike with a car, if you choose to carry a cell phone, you are absolutely contributing to the surveillance state, and pretending otherwise doesn't make your culpability in it go away. [1] It doesn't see much use these days due to an unfortunate medical situation, but I would be driving that car if it was safe.