[ExI] Privacy

[efc at disroot.org]

On Sat, 2 Nov 2024, Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat wrote:

> On 01/11/2024 23:38, Daniel wrote:
>> camera surveillance, tracking an controlling (or "nudging" as it is called 
>> in modern english if I remember correctly) people is definitely getting 
>> popular among the political class, so I fear you are right as long as we 
>> don't experience anything similar to the persecution of the jews, with the 
>> disaster that followed. If such a disaster should happen again maybe that 
>> might be enough to make some people think about unlimited surveillance and 
>> what it can be used for if it ends up in the wrong hands.
>
> "wrong hands" Ha, that makes me laugh.
>
> What exactly are the 'wrong hands'? And how does that differ from the hands 
> that such information is already in?

The hands I have not authorised.

> I think we can safely assume that our data is already in the wrong hands, and 
> has been from the start.

Maybe. But that does not imply that we should not try to make things 
better. =)

> Think of it this way: What are the 'right hands'? iow: who do you think holds 
> your own interests above theirs?
> Hint: the answer is "nobody".

If I'm sick, my doctor, if I want to improve my diet, my dietist, when 
it's my birthday, my family.

> As soon as you divulge any information about yourself (including going out 
> and being recorded on surveillance cameras, not to mention staying inside 
> your own house and being recorded via various 'smart' systems, or even just 
> having your internet activity captured), you can be sure that it immediately 
> falls into the 'wrong hands'.

Well, luckily for me I live in a city where there are no ubiquitous 
surveillance cameras! And I also do not have any smart systems in my 
house. I also have a server in my house, so even though you are right that 
my ISP can track the activity, there are several members of the household 
and multiple devices, so fortunately they do not have a very clear 
pictures. Some communication is also encrypted, so although they do have 
the metadata, a lot of the actual traffic they do not have.

> We aready live in the panopticon. Some of us realise it, most of us don't.

I think it is not so black and white as you make it out to be, and I am 
also very optimistic about the long term future. GDPR already exists, and 
although hamfisted and ineffective in many cases shows that there is a 
desire among the public in the EU to do something about it.