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News messages such as these are increasingly scary and alarming. They paint a picture of a very nearby dystopian society that, until now, was the stuff of ficti

News messages such as these are increasingly scary and alarming. They paint a picture of a very nearby dystopian society that, until now, was the stuff of fiction. The news is successful in scaring us, but what can we do against this type of thing? What can I as an individual do? I can install ad-blockers, etc on my PC, but how can I prevent the technology described in the article from impacting my life or that of my children? I don't want them to grow up in a 1984 or Brave New World scenario. What can I do today to stop from, at the very least, my country from going down a path where this is considered normal?

lghh 8y ago
Spread awareness, donate to causes like ACLU and EFF who will fight against this stuff, raise litigation, fight for legislation.
CalRobert 8y ago
Well, you can: * Push your politicians to support GDPR-style legislation * Donate to your politicians so they actually listen * Run for office * Try some weird tech solution like dazzle clothing (this won't work most likely) * Take inspiration from Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, and emigrate to a place with governance that more closely reflects your own values. A place covered by the GDPR would be a good start. _Presumably_ if your country loses enough talented people it will work to retain them. But, that's a pretty long-term approach and I have doubts about it's true efficacy (My homeland is hardly building great bike infrastructure since I left, and that was one of the biggest motivations) * (Also pretty extreme and of dubious efficacy long-term) live off-grid somewhere remote and not walk by people's houses. Probably a lost cause, though. I find it infuriating that my voice is being listened to by Alexa, etc. when I'm in other people's homes, but they don't seem to care. Maybe civilization will collapse and render this a moot point.
- bilbo0s 8y ago
  >Probably a lost cause, though... I don't know? I think idea number 2 from your list would likely be extremely effective if you had a large enough amount of money so that you could give large amounts to a large number of politicians. But, yeah, not many people out there with that kind of resource. For the majority of us, resisting these sorts of technologies and tracking is a lost cause.
- mosselman 8y ago
  Thanks for the suggestions. They follow some of my own thoughts. > Push your politicians to support GDPR-style legislation Luckily I live in the EU, only 'luckily' might be an overstatement with regards to privacy if you look at the article 13 issue. Apart from that, at least to what I perceive, privacy carries at least some meaning here still. > Donate to your politicians so they actually listen I do not have enough money to make politicians listen I think. > Run for office This seems like one of the only conceivable routes to take that could have some real impact. I don't want to run for some political office, but at some point I might have to. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think Nietzsche thought that we shouldn't give power that those who want it. Right now there are a lot of people in power who want that political power and use that to advance themselves in life, rather than helping society. Not only in politics however; Amazon's developers who work on these intrusive technologies are just as guilty. I would not work on this type of technology because I can't justify this to myself as a person, but apparently many people leave the person they are at the door when they go to work, developers and politicians alike. > ...emigrate... I could consider this at some stage, but that would be to protect myself and my family against imaginable changes to political situations with regards to privacy, not as much as a way to force government to change their views. > ... live off-grid This sounds like a great way to draw attention to yourself. Besides, I don't want to live in the woods, I want to live in society without my privacy being violated constantly by advertisers, other companies and government. Because everybody has a right to their thoughts staying their own.
  - CalRobert 8y ago
    "This sounds like a great way to draw attention to yourself. Besides, I don't want to live in the woods, I want to live in society without my privacy being violated constantly by advertisers, other companies and government. Because everybody has a right to their thoughts staying their own. " Yeah, it just means you won't have to walk by the doorbells. I wasn't really serious about it. And between cheap drones, IR cameras, etc. if somebody wants to find you, they will. At this point I think your only real hope is finding a place that aligns with your values, moving there, and working to keep it good. Effecting real change is 99% luck and places heading towards dystopia have a lot of wealthy forces arrayed against you.
SubiculumCode 8y ago
Don't buy a door bell camera, discourage your neighbors from doing so. Tell them you think the whole thing is crass.
- JohnFen 8y ago
  I think "crass" is understating it. "Invasive and antisocial" seems closer.
  - mosselman 8y ago
    I agree, but the layman is just upset that he can’t have his cool gadget, so you need to soften them up a little to your views first I guess.

lghh 8y ago

Spread awareness, donate to causes like ACLU and EFF who will fight against this stuff, raise litigation, fight for legislation.

CalRobert 8y ago

Well, you can: * Push your politicians to support GDPR-style legislation * Donate to your politicians so they actually listen * Run for office * Try some weird tech solution like dazzle clothing (this won't work most likely) * Take inspiration from Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, and emigrate to a place with governance that more closely reflects your own values. A place covered by the GDPR would be a good start. _Presumably_ if your country loses enough talented people it will work to retain them. But, that's a pretty long-term approach and I have doubts about it's true efficacy (My homeland is hardly building great bike infrastructure since I left, and that was one of the biggest motivations) * (Also pretty extreme and of dubious efficacy long-term) live off-grid somewhere remote and not walk by people's houses. Probably a lost cause, though. I find it infuriating that my voice is being listened to by Alexa, etc. when I'm in other people's homes, but they don't seem to care. Maybe civilization will collapse and render this a moot point.

bilbo0s 8y ago
>Probably a lost cause, though... I don't know? I think idea number 2 from your list would likely be extremely effective if you had a large enough amount of money so that you could give large amounts to a large number of politicians. But, yeah, not many people out there with that kind of resource. For the majority of us, resisting these sorts of technologies and tracking is a lost cause.
mosselman 8y ago
Thanks for the suggestions. They follow some of my own thoughts. > Push your politicians to support GDPR-style legislation Luckily I live in the EU, only 'luckily' might be an overstatement with regards to privacy if you look at the article 13 issue. Apart from that, at least to what I perceive, privacy carries at least some meaning here still. > Donate to your politicians so they actually listen I do not have enough money to make politicians listen I think. > Run for office This seems like one of the only conceivable routes to take that could have some real impact. I don't want to run for some political office, but at some point I might have to. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think Nietzsche thought that we shouldn't give power that those who want it. Right now there are a lot of people in power who want that political power and use that to advance themselves in life, rather than helping society. Not only in politics however; Amazon's developers who work on these intrusive technologies are just as guilty. I would not work on this type of technology because I can't justify this to myself as a person, but apparently many people leave the person they are at the door when they go to work, developers and politicians alike. > ...emigrate... I could consider this at some stage, but that would be to protect myself and my family against imaginable changes to political situations with regards to privacy, not as much as a way to force government to change their views. > ... live off-grid This sounds like a great way to draw attention to yourself. Besides, I don't want to live in the woods, I want to live in society without my privacy being violated constantly by advertisers, other companies and government. Because everybody has a right to their thoughts staying their own.
- CalRobert 8y ago
  "This sounds like a great way to draw attention to yourself. Besides, I don't want to live in the woods, I want to live in society without my privacy being violated constantly by advertisers, other companies and government. Because everybody has a right to their thoughts staying their own. " Yeah, it just means you won't have to walk by the doorbells. I wasn't really serious about it. And between cheap drones, IR cameras, etc. if somebody wants to find you, they will. At this point I think your only real hope is finding a place that aligns with your values, moving there, and working to keep it good. Effecting real change is 99% luck and places heading towards dystopia have a lot of wealthy forces arrayed against you.

SubiculumCode 8y ago

Don't buy a door bell camera, discourage your neighbors from doing so. Tell them you think the whole thing is crass.

JohnFen 8y ago
I think "crass" is understating it. "Invasive and antisocial" seems closer.
- mosselman 8y ago
  I agree, but the layman is just upset that he can’t have his cool gadget, so you need to soften them up a little to your views first I guess.