4 ms·

So it has been on the upswing recently but my understanding is that in the US we have been doing pretty much as much surveillance as technology (and also genera

So it has been on the upswing recently but my understanding is that in the US we have been doing pretty much as much surveillance as technology (and also generally the 4th amendment) practically allows since at least WWII, and especially during the Cold War. Many law abiding people opposed to government policy (e.g. civil rights leaders or anti-war activists) have always been surveilled with dubious cause. This isn't the best wiki article I've ever seen but it has some examples of the US surveillance over the last century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_surveillance_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_surveillance_in_the_Unite...

trollbridge 1y ago
The current “workaround” to the 4th amendment is to simply have private companies who do surveillance and then buy bulk data from them. ICE does this with location data from mobile apps. They simply buy from a private vendor the information about where specific people are. Then they go detain them. Some real life friends of mine are on a work crew with some migrants. ICE pulled their truck over, asked the migrants to identify themselves (with different names than they’d been using), they complied, and ICE drove off with them after detaining them. I asked “Did they have their mobile phones with them?” “Yes.” People literally are carrying around a tracking device, voluntarily, with apps installed on them, voluntarily, that report their location to government authorities who want to detain them.
- ekianjo 1y ago
  If you are an illegal immigrat how do you even get a mobile phone contract though? In every country I know a valid ID is required to get one.
  - arthens 1y ago
    What's the connection between being an illegal immigrant and having a valid ID? In my experience as a traveller, any ID from any country is good enough to get a mobile contract. Some countries might check VISA status too, but any valid temporary VISA is generally enough.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
  - edflsafoiewq 1y ago
    I use an MVNO and I never needed any ID.
  - curtisf 1y ago
    The United States is a country that doesn't require any form of identification to have a phone number. You can buy a "burner phone" at any Walmart, with prepaid minutes and no contract, in cash.
  - heavyset_go 1y ago
    Walk into 7/11 and buy a prepaid SIM card
johnnienaked 1y ago
True but it's never been as overt

trollbridge 1y ago

The current “workaround” to the 4th amendment is to simply have private companies who do surveillance and then buy bulk data from them. ICE does this with location data from mobile apps. They simply buy from a private vendor the information about where specific people are. Then they go detain them. Some real life friends of mine are on a work crew with some migrants. ICE pulled their truck over, asked the migrants to identify themselves (with different names than they’d been using), they complied, and ICE drove off with them after detaining them. I asked “Did they have their mobile phones with them?” “Yes.” People literally are carrying around a tracking device, voluntarily, with apps installed on them, voluntarily, that report their location to government authorities who want to detain them.

ekianjo 1y ago
If you are an illegal immigrat how do you even get a mobile phone contract though? In every country I know a valid ID is required to get one.
- arthens 1y ago
  What's the connection between being an illegal immigrant and having a valid ID? In my experience as a traveller, any ID from any country is good enough to get a mobile contract. Some countries might check VISA status too, but any valid temporary VISA is generally enough.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
- edflsafoiewq 1y ago
  I use an MVNO and I never needed any ID.
- curtisf 1y ago
  The United States is a country that doesn't require any form of identification to have a phone number. You can buy a "burner phone" at any Walmart, with prepaid minutes and no contract, in cash.
- heavyset_go 1y ago
  Walk into 7/11 and buy a prepaid SIM card

johnnienaked 1y ago

True but it's never been as overt