Great and what if a dictatorship takes over and starts looking through historical data. This is a depressingly high possibility in my country.
But even going less extreme than that, what about just draconian surveillance laws. In my country they’ve already tried to ban VPNs fortunately they’re technologically illiterate so they’ve been massively unsuccessful at that one. But what if they grow a collective brain?
Even though you’re completely right, there are 2 issues.
Most people are status quo adherents. The threat, even a real threat, of a totalitarian dictatorship take over of their country won’t ever be perceived as credible because in their mind “it’s just not possible” (at least in western nations). Second issue is that most people don’t understand, even in a post-Snowden world, what surveillance is actively being performed on them. A percent of a percent of smart phone users are even aware of what PRISM is, and most people don’t understand how that information can be weaponized against them.
Getting people to care about privacy means educating people on how computers work. But we’re about 40 to 50 years too late for that.
I wouldn’t doubt that it is, and we just don’t know about it.
The NSA (CIA?, well Fed assholes) installed surveillance gear in Verizon data centers in the 90’s so they could listen to any phone call or read any text message. It was reported about 1996ish.
Never heard that it was removed, or if they were in other telecom systems.
So yea, my guess is it’s already there. Even worse, people in the right positions are probably controllable (again, good old CIA/NSA at work, thanks Hoover, ya jackass). Don’t need a law or specialized gear when the right people are already compromised.
Just read up on why Bill Gates even got an audience with IBM…
When it comes to location tracking and many other things, data retention and use policies are just a useful distraction from the real problem which is that they're able to collect the data at all.
Well it is not that easy obviously. WhatsApp isn’t a chat-with-friends app anymore. For me it has become a part of my work life and I hate it. That’s why I said I need to take steps incrementally.
I love the entire process. I love that I can send them cash in an envelope with an account number on it and they’ll just top it up lol. I wish every online retailer had to do what they voluntarily do.
I like the sentiment. The challenge is that those who violate privacy benefit financially, while those who defend against it are just trying to protect themselves. To go on the offensive requires effort and know-how without any corresponding financial or personal benefit. A spite based effort sounds appealing but wouldn’t be sustainable.
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