10 ms·

> People respond well to things that make them feel safer, regardless of whether they're actually safer So as privacy advocates, what do we say if we see a hig

> People respond well to things that make them feel safer, regardless of whether they're actually safer So as privacy advocates, what do we say if we see a highly intrusive surveillance system that does make people actually safer? It's entirely possible that a highly intrusive surveillance system could well be extremely effective in combatting crime - and I mean the "universally-agreed" crimes, not political crimes - as well as providing spying capabilities to keep the population in check. Now I don't know what impact Social Credit has on crime rates, but it's not self-evidently a stupid idea in that regard.

neuronic 8y ago
This is a difficult question because it boils down to whether we generally prefer safety over freedom. Privacy is just one pillar of freedom, albeit a load-bearing one. Freedom will crumble if we strike down this pillar and as a society - or even as Western hemisphere - we have to evaluate if safety from (state-defined) crime ends up being worth near-zero privacy. If I were to judge by some interviews I recently saw on "extra3", a comedic German television format [1], I increasingly fear that democracy, freedom and liberalism are doomed. Context: People at a meat convention (yes...) were asked about their opinions on climate change and animal farming. Boomer-aged visitors and young visitors alike not only showed complete lack of understanding of ANY issue associated with large-scale animal husbandry. But they turned questions on their head and answered in a sort of stupid and ignorant way I could have never imagined in my wildest dreams. One example: "What do you think about animal suffering in mass animal husbandry?" Answer, paraphrased, completely serious in tone: "Nothing, the humans here at this convention are also visiting in masses and obviously nobody suffers. They are all enjoying themselves, look around." A question about CO2-impact of animal farming brought another response forward, that had me baffled: "There is no problem here, we have been eating meat for thousands of years and now suddenly it's supposed to be wrong. The climate didn't change over the millennia either!" [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_3
- threatofrain 8y ago
  People are looking for the right language to do what they want with dignity, but the specifics of the language and its content aren't of interest.

neuronic 8y ago

This is a difficult question because it boils down to whether we generally prefer safety over freedom. Privacy is just one pillar of freedom, albeit a load-bearing one. Freedom will crumble if we strike down this pillar and as a society - or even as Western hemisphere - we have to evaluate if safety from (state-defined) crime ends up being worth near-zero privacy. If I were to judge by some interviews I recently saw on "extra3", a comedic German television format [1], I increasingly fear that democracy, freedom and liberalism are doomed. Context: People at a meat convention (yes...) were asked about their opinions on climate change and animal farming. Boomer-aged visitors and young visitors alike not only showed complete lack of understanding of ANY issue associated with large-scale animal husbandry. But they turned questions on their head and answered in a sort of stupid and ignorant way I could have never imagined in my wildest dreams. One example: "What do you think about animal suffering in mass animal husbandry?" Answer, paraphrased, completely serious in tone: "Nothing, the humans here at this convention are also visiting in masses and obviously nobody suffers. They are all enjoying themselves, look around." A question about CO2-impact of animal farming brought another response forward, that had me baffled: "There is no problem here, we have been eating meat for thousands of years and now suddenly it's supposed to be wrong. The climate didn't change over the millennia either!" [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_3

threatofrain 8y ago
People are looking for the right language to do what they want with dignity, but the specifics of the language and its content aren't of interest.