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This seems like pointless scaremongering to me. Nobody's getting thrown into a re-education for looking up a word in a dictionary. This kind of cartoonish exagg

This seems like pointless scaremongering to me. Nobody's getting thrown into a re-education for looking up a word in a dictionary. This kind of cartoonish exaggeration of how totalitarian regimes operate only muddies the water on the actual harm done by such governments.

denton-scratch 4y ago
Your view might be less sanguine if you were, say, a woman in Texas needing an abortion.
- izacus 4y ago
  - denton-scratch 4y ago
    > Are you a Texas woman looking for abortion No, I'm not (and I wouldn't tell you if I were!) I don't need to be directly affected to have an opinion. "Either you are directly affected, or you're a virtue-signalling ghoul" is a false dilemma, and I say your argument is dishonest.
    - izacus 4y ago
      Not any less dishonest as your unsupported scaremongering. You literally did what you're accusing me of doing.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
nmilo 4y ago
All else being equal, more privacy is always good. I think the examples given are just there to get normal people to care about this too. Similar to when abortion was outlawed in the US and suddenly people cared a lot about all that Google Maps location history that Google was saving. It's much easier to convince people to mitigate a real problem than it is to prevent a hypothetical future problem. So convince them to mitigate this "real" problem that governments can see your dictionary queries, and hopefully that might prevent an actually real future problem.
computerfriend 4y ago
Maybe not this specifically, but people have been and are being thrown into reeducation camps for trivial reasons. https://www.shahit.biz/eng/ https://www.shahit.biz/eng/
lottin 4y ago
Indeed, such levels of paranoia cannot be healthy. If you're worried that somebody might find out that you looked up a word in a dictionary, imagine what they could find if they started snooping into your trash.
tinus_hn 4y ago
People are judged for looking up terms related to their accused crimes all the time.
- password4321 4y ago
  Apparently authorities reverse keyword search Google search histories to find suspects. June 30th: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-google-reverse-keyword-searches-rcna35749 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-google-reverse-k... > In documents filed Thursday in Denver District Court, lawyers for the 17-year-old argue that the police violated the Constitution when they got a judge to order Google to check its vast database of internet searches for users who typed in the address of a home before it was set ablaze on Aug. 5, 2020. Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31938350 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31938350
nonrandomstring 4y ago
> This kind of cartoonish exaggeration of how totalitarian regimes operate only muddies the water on the actual harm done by such governments. What do think you know about "how totalitarian regimes operate"? Worked for some have you? What we do know, from well sourced documents, is that real-time keyscore type filtering and flagging of every byte of unencrypted data occurs at ISPs, and that is common practice in our own non-totalitarian nations. What do you imagine goes on in less savoury dictatorships to whom we sell the same intercept equipment and DPI firewalls? To describe that landscape as "cartoonish exaggeration" seems either naive or disingenuous.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- execveat 4y ago
  XKeyscore is/was used to fight terrorism and it's only available to federal agencies, not local law enforcement. Abortion isn't prohibited on a federal level and it's not a national security concern. It doesn't explain why people should avoid using GNOME Dictionary at all.
croes 4y ago
Not because of using a dictionary but it could be used a one part of your profile. Or it's used as a trigger to engage in further observation of your web activities
arinlen 4y ago
> This seems like pointless scaremongering to me. One man's infosec advisory on attack vectors is another man's scaremongering. Hand waving around a problem does nothing to address it.
throwawayaga1n 4y ago
> Nobody's getting thrown into a re-education for looking up a word in a dictionary. Tell me you've never been in that situation without telling me you've never been in that situation. Check your privilege. I was hauled in front of the police, and they went through my search history. I'm innocent and still thought I was going to get the chair. Every little search is taken out of context and the worst intentions are assumed. I honestly can't stand this kind of flippant attitude by people who've never experienced anything remotely like this. And now it's even worse for say American women looking for an abortion etc.
croes 4y ago
Even searching the "wrong" things on google can get you in trouble "How Google searches for 'pressure cookers' and 'backpacks' led the cops to a writer's door" https://www.theverge.com/2013/8/1/4580654/michele-catalano-google-search-pressure-cookers-backpacks-bomb-scare https://www.theverge.com/2013/8/1/4580654/michele-catalano-g...
IshKebab 4y ago
I agree it's unlikely anyone will ever care but you've got to admit it's insane and surprising that a dictionary app in 2022 looks up the results online using a gopher-era plaintext protocol rather than just bundling the dictionary.

denton-scratch 4y ago

Your view might be less sanguine if you were, say, a woman in Texas needing an abortion.

izacus 4y ago
- denton-scratch 4y ago
  > Are you a Texas woman looking for abortion No, I'm not (and I wouldn't tell you if I were!) I don't need to be directly affected to have an opinion. "Either you are directly affected, or you're a virtue-signalling ghoul" is a false dilemma, and I say your argument is dishonest.
  - izacus 4y ago
    Not any less dishonest as your unsupported scaremongering. You literally did what you're accusing me of doing.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

nmilo 4y ago

All else being equal, more privacy is always good. I think the examples given are just there to get normal people to care about this too. Similar to when abortion was outlawed in the US and suddenly people cared a lot about all that Google Maps location history that Google was saving. It's much easier to convince people to mitigate a real problem than it is to prevent a hypothetical future problem. So convince them to mitigate this "real" problem that governments can see your dictionary queries, and hopefully that might prevent an actually real future problem.

computerfriend 4y ago

Maybe not this specifically, but people have been and are being thrown into reeducation camps for trivial reasons. https://www.shahit.biz/eng/ https://www.shahit.biz/eng/

lottin 4y ago

Indeed, such levels of paranoia cannot be healthy. If you're worried that somebody might find out that you looked up a word in a dictionary, imagine what they could find if they started snooping into your trash.

tinus_hn 4y ago

People are judged for looking up terms related to their accused crimes all the time.

password4321 4y ago
Apparently authorities reverse keyword search Google search histories to find suspects. June 30th: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-google-reverse-keyword-searches-rcna35749 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-google-reverse-k... > In documents filed Thursday in Denver District Court, lawyers for the 17-year-old argue that the police violated the Constitution when they got a judge to order Google to check its vast database of internet searches for users who typed in the address of a home before it was set ablaze on Aug. 5, 2020. Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31938350 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31938350

nonrandomstring 4y ago

> This kind of cartoonish exaggeration of how totalitarian regimes operate only muddies the water on the actual harm done by such governments. What do think you know about "how totalitarian regimes operate"? Worked for some have you? What we do know, from well sourced documents, is that real-time keyscore type filtering and flagging of every byte of unencrypted data occurs at ISPs, and that is common practice in our own non-totalitarian nations. What do you imagine goes on in less savoury dictatorships to whom we sell the same intercept equipment and DPI firewalls? To describe that landscape as "cartoonish exaggeration" seems either naive or disingenuous.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
execveat 4y ago
XKeyscore is/was used to fight terrorism and it's only available to federal agencies, not local law enforcement. Abortion isn't prohibited on a federal level and it's not a national security concern. It doesn't explain why people should avoid using GNOME Dictionary at all.

croes 4y ago

Not because of using a dictionary but it could be used a one part of your profile. Or it's used as a trigger to engage in further observation of your web activities

arinlen 4y ago

> This seems like pointless scaremongering to me. One man's infosec advisory on attack vectors is another man's scaremongering. Hand waving around a problem does nothing to address it.

throwawayaga1n 4y ago

> Nobody's getting thrown into a re-education for looking up a word in a dictionary. Tell me you've never been in that situation without telling me you've never been in that situation. Check your privilege. I was hauled in front of the police, and they went through my search history. I'm innocent and still thought I was going to get the chair. Every little search is taken out of context and the worst intentions are assumed. I honestly can't stand this kind of flippant attitude by people who've never experienced anything remotely like this. And now it's even worse for say American women looking for an abortion etc.

croes 4y ago

Even searching the "wrong" things on google can get you in trouble "How Google searches for 'pressure cookers' and 'backpacks' led the cops to a writer's door" https://www.theverge.com/2013/8/1/4580654/michele-catalano-google-search-pressure-cookers-backpacks-bomb-scare https://www.theverge.com/2013/8/1/4580654/michele-catalano-g...

IshKebab 4y ago

I agree it's unlikely anyone will ever care but you've got to admit it's insane and surprising that a dictionary app in 2022 looks up the results online using a gopher-era plaintext protocol rather than just bundling the dictionary.