I’m deeply concerned about the future, everyone I know is using non-free software and firmware, and relying on SaaS like ChatGPT. These companies are collecting and storing our thoughts and personal data, and I suspect they’re sharing it with agencies like the NSA. Our cell phones track our every move, listen to our conversations, and record our activities. Google probably logs our search history forever, and Windows can access all of our files. Non-free firmware and the Intel Management Engine can even spy on us, capturing our screen activity and keystrokes. Cameras watch everywhere you move. It’s a daunting battle to fight, and it’s disheartening to see that even when we try to discuss these issues, many people are quick to dismiss our concerns. What are your thoughts on mass surviellence?
What are your thoughts on mass surviellence?
I’m . . . against it? Is this a trick question? But just in case it isn’t: don’t buy products with cameras and microphones and network connectivity built into them.
Also keep your online life completely separate from your real life. That means NO personal info on line. At all.
I see some of the strangest questions in the sub. Objectively awful thing that only benefits a morally bankrupt few - yes or no?
I assume the envisioned discussion was supposed to be
Q: Thoughts on the Orphan Crushing Machine?
A: The CDC says crushing orphans is bad for our health.
A: The government in Orphania is expanding the definitions of orphans to all seniors, allowing a cascading orphan-crushing effect.
where we all experience the same negative emotion in a fuller, mildly variable way.
But yeah, it’s kind of… predictable, isn’t it?
<thread> FOSS, big bad powerfuls, companies, governments, Stallman </thread>
I kinda just accepted that it exists. Governments literally have hardware-level backdoors in most consumer computers (Intel ME, AMD PSP, etc). There isn’t really anything you can do about that if you don’t want to cut off yourself from society. I will still pick low-hanging fruit of course, but most of my “opsec” effort is focused on not giving corporations any data
What do have to hide?
Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say
- Edward Snowden
It’s a daunting battle to fight, and it’s disheartening to see that even when we try to discuss these issues, many people are quick to dismiss our concerns.
You said it all.
Whether we like Richard Stallman or not, we cannot deny that it started (in part) with the “I don’t care” and the denigration of free software.
Education systems around the world have failed to promote free software as an IT basis and vigilance against proprietary software lobbies.
My opinion is that after being conditioned by their environment most people have already given up on their privacy, so mass surveillance does not bother them that much…
Richard Stallman
Who dis?
It scares me how much power it gives the ruling class
Snowden’s leaks are a big reason why I got into politics and FOSS and a big reason why I’m a socialist today.
Dangerous, as a Communist living in America.
smartphones were basically the nail in the coffin. Everything else it gravy.
First: Mass Surveillance is possible without computing technology. The Stasi secret police in the DDR or secret police of the Soviet Union and North Korea demonstrate this. Normal citizens where secret spies that reported their family members or “friends” activity. In your wording of your text I notice you are mostly concerned with computational surveillance with modern technology, why not expand this to other human based surveillance systems?
Now to the computing aspects: Standardization Whatever is possible with technology will be implemented by someone, even if it was meant as a temporary test it might become permanent apparatus for surveillance. A good example of that is the http protocol which through its faulty design allows some surveillance: cookies, user-Agent headers, IP-Addresses, Domain name systems. Someone in the surveilance agency of China understood http stack and its vulnerabilities, otherwise there would be no great chinese firewall that can block all foreign traffic 🏰🏯🏰.
No one wants to go away from http, eventhough it enables chinese mass surveillance, because it became a convenient standard. This is why it became permanent, even though more private systems are possible (onion/i2p sites), very few use them. Lazy Convenience > Privacy.
All communication will yield metadata.
Tldr:
Knowledge is power.
Human organizations: It is free real estate.
Does the fact all cameras in my home have electrical tape or some other physical barrier on top of them answer your question?
Not to call you out, but it always perplexes me that people do this without considering why.
I mean its pretty simple. I dont trust software controls to control the cameras being on or off. So i cover them. Its a foolproof way to make sure your cameras are off basically. Id like to just not have the cameras but its basically impossible to find some types lf devices that dont have them. Like a phone for example.
I think it’s both horrible and inevitable.
Don’t like it, can’t change a lot of it.
Some stuff I can replace with open source software, but a lot of stuff will always be proprietary and opaque. I kinda just have to deal with that.
