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Right so you're agreeing that the Government (U.S.) doesn't exactly have an easy path. Hence why I am more concerned about Corporate surveillance than I am ove

Right so you're agreeing that the Government (U.S.) doesn't exactly have an easy path. Hence why I am more concerned about Corporate surveillance than I am over Government influencing our lives.

SllX 3y ago
Not having an easy path doesn’t make it less of a concern. Treating it like it’s something we shouldn’t be concerned about is how it becomes an easier path. Corporate surveillance is by comparison much easier to deal with in your own home: stop buying and using crap that surveils you. If you don’t trust that something won’t surveil you, don’t allow it into your home. Now I say this is easier, but it’s still not easy, but at worst a corporation will get me to spend a little bit more money with them (probably not, I hate buying things). The worst a government can do is legally kill me with no repercussions to the people who pull the trigger or the ones who ordered them to.
- thx-2718 3y ago
  > stop buying and using crap that surveils you. What if there aren't any options? Most stores are moving over to self-check outs with facial recognition... More and more things are requiring smart phones. Job applications. Timesheets to log your hours worked. Digital tracking in equipment and vehicles. Insurance companies lowering rates if they can track your car. etc. The worst that private companies can do is lobby government to make something innocuous but common illegal with unreasonably long sentences so that they can targetedly lock up a portion of the population and use them as slaves.
  - SllX 3y ago
    Maybe you’ve forgotten that we actually do live in a free country. There is always a choice and people make those choices every day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish Even they have figured out how to work modern technology into their communities in a structured way. What you choose to buy and use comes down to what you value. How you use it is a reflection of how much power you give it. > Most stores are moving over to self-check outs with facial recognition... So what? You’re on someone else’s premises at that point. Your loss of privacy vis a vis what goes in the shopping cart is a given. 20 years ago cameras were already pervasive in supermarkets, they were just worse at being cameras than a modern installation. People have been giving up their phone number to get glorified coupons at Safeway since the 90s, which tags your receipt with whatever name you filled out when you punch it in. If you prefer not to do that, you look for the small grocers, or the farmers, or whatever but you structure your life around what you value most. If you value your privacy the utmost, you can have that up in Alaska hunting game with your next door neighbor 200 miles away. If you value a different lifestyle, you’ll have that instead. > The worst that private companies can do is lobby government to make something innocuous but common illegal with unreasonably long sentences so that they can targetedly lock up a portion of the population and use them as slaves. So the worst thing that corporations can do in your estimation is beg the government to spare some of the government’s power for their use; in competition with other corporations who might want to use it differently or have conflicting ideas about how the government’s power should be used. In the end it comes back down to the government’s power.
    - thx-2718 3y ago
      We live in a relatively free society thanks to our government and democracy. > In the end it comes back down to the government’s power. Right so it's important to keep government transparent and promote civil participation so that government isn't used by corporate interests to muck it up and prevent us from moving to Alaska or living however we like. Personally I think that private prisons and draconian laws go nicely together.

Right so you're agreeing that the Government (U.S.) doesn't exactly have an easy path. Hence why I am more concerned about Corporate surveillance than I am over Government influencing our lives.

SllX 3y ago

Not having an easy path doesn’t make it less of a concern. Treating it like it’s something we shouldn’t be concerned about is how it becomes an easier path. Corporate surveillance is by comparison much easier to deal with in your own home: stop buying and using crap that surveils you. If you don’t trust that something won’t surveil you, don’t allow it into your home. Now I say this is easier, but it’s still not easy, but at worst a corporation will get me to spend a little bit more money with them (probably not, I hate buying things). The worst a government can do is legally kill me with no repercussions to the people who pull the trigger or the ones who ordered them to.

thx-2718 3y ago
> stop buying and using crap that surveils you. What if there aren't any options? Most stores are moving over to self-check outs with facial recognition... More and more things are requiring smart phones. Job applications. Timesheets to log your hours worked. Digital tracking in equipment and vehicles. Insurance companies lowering rates if they can track your car. etc. The worst that private companies can do is lobby government to make something innocuous but common illegal with unreasonably long sentences so that they can targetedly lock up a portion of the population and use them as slaves.
- SllX 3y ago
  Maybe you’ve forgotten that we actually do live in a free country. There is always a choice and people make those choices every day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish Even they have figured out how to work modern technology into their communities in a structured way. What you choose to buy and use comes down to what you value. How you use it is a reflection of how much power you give it. > Most stores are moving over to self-check outs with facial recognition... So what? You’re on someone else’s premises at that point. Your loss of privacy vis a vis what goes in the shopping cart is a given. 20 years ago cameras were already pervasive in supermarkets, they were just worse at being cameras than a modern installation. People have been giving up their phone number to get glorified coupons at Safeway since the 90s, which tags your receipt with whatever name you filled out when you punch it in. If you prefer not to do that, you look for the small grocers, or the farmers, or whatever but you structure your life around what you value most. If you value your privacy the utmost, you can have that up in Alaska hunting game with your next door neighbor 200 miles away. If you value a different lifestyle, you’ll have that instead. > The worst that private companies can do is lobby government to make something innocuous but common illegal with unreasonably long sentences so that they can targetedly lock up a portion of the population and use them as slaves. So the worst thing that corporations can do in your estimation is beg the government to spare some of the government’s power for their use; in competition with other corporations who might want to use it differently or have conflicting ideas about how the government’s power should be used. In the end it comes back down to the government’s power.
  - thx-2718 3y ago
    We live in a relatively free society thanks to our government and democracy. > In the end it comes back down to the government’s power. Right so it's important to keep government transparent and promote civil participation so that government isn't used by corporate interests to muck it up and prevent us from moving to Alaska or living however we like. Personally I think that private prisons and draconian laws go nicely together.