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This summary of the common disingenuousness of Apple defenders is decent IMO but the associations this post makes to other socially controversial debates is not

by dvogel 5y ago

This summary of the common disingenuousness of Apple defenders is decent IMO but the associations this post makes to other socially controversial debates is not helpful. The COVID precautions mentioned are designed to protect the entire population of the world and all of our tools in that fight depend on massive social cooperation. The proportion of the population who need an exemption from COVID measures is very small. With CSAM the situation is reversed. The entire population of iPhone users is now subject to a precaution that is needed only for a very small proportion of the population. To my mind, the test if whether someone is debating in good faith on this topic is whether they are willing and able to provide a limiting principle to the new invasive capability. If there is no limit to an invasion of privacy it shouldn't be allowed. From what I've read, Apple's tech seems promising but all such tech will have false hits. There will be human processes required to safeguard against those spiraling out of control in the life of their users. I wish they would disclose more details about those processes.

ghoward 5y ago
Author here. You say that almost no one "needs" exemptions from COVID precautions. Define "needs". The truth is that vaccine passports were labeled a conspiracy theory a year ago. Now, they are real. We are already slipping down the slope. In NYC, with its vaccine mandate, the populations most affected are minorities. In Massachusetts, a CDC study hints at the fact that vaccinated people and unvaccinated people spread the virus about the same amount, which points to the fact that the virus is going to virus, period. If that is the case, then social cooperation won't help much, and the cooperation will cause us to lose bodily autonomy. That's not a price I'm willing to pay, and I don't think we as a society should pay that price either.

by dvogel 5y ago

ghoward 5y ago

Author here. You say that almost no one "needs" exemptions from COVID precautions. Define "needs". The truth is that vaccine passports were labeled a conspiracy theory a year ago. Now, they are real. We are already slipping down the slope. In NYC, with its vaccine mandate, the populations most affected are minorities. In Massachusetts, a CDC study hints at the fact that vaccinated people and unvaccinated people spread the virus about the same amount, which points to the fact that the virus is going to virus, period. If that is the case, then social cooperation won't help much, and the cooperation will cause us to lose bodily autonomy. That's not a price I'm willing to pay, and I don't think we as a society should pay that price either.