Read this article today in The Seattle Times (link below), which is originally from WaPo. Anyhow, the following statement in the article leads me to the conclusion that Americans will likely never care about their privacy. But also the article is all about how surveillance is steadily further and further encroaching into individual’s privacy and, I think, being done in a way that people will find it acceptable, normal.
"Americans say in surveys that they accept the technology’s encroachment because it often feels like something else: a trade-off of future worries for the immediacy of convenience, comfort and ease. "
https://www.seattletimes.com/?p=12331207
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Scary stuff.
What I liked about the article is this line: “… we could be asking harder questions, like: Why are we creating institutions where students don’t want to show up?”
1984 is right here and now. And most of the people don’t care, they always choose the blue pill!
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I suppose it’s not just about Americans - more like about retarded people who just do not care. It’s similar to many other countries.
Also, it says “His 340-person lecture has never been so full.” because "seven small Bluetooth beacons hidden around the Grant Auditorium lecture hall connect with an app on their smartphones and boost their attendance points.” - I just wonder if all the students were there or maybe some of them just sent their smartphones?
“His teammates, he said, have suffered through their own technical headaches, but they’ve all been told they’ll get in trouble if they delete the app from their phones.” - haha, this is sick.
Phones with hardware switches (and people using those switches) would make a system like that useless.
Very interesting article. It did say that students found it distasteful at VCU, which led to a high opt out rate. So, there is some indication that some, in the US, and also elsewhere, do cherish the right to privacy.
There’s an American author, Shoshana Zuboff, who recently wrote a book entitled Surveillance Captitalism. It’s a very popular book, so people are interested in the topic. I’m reading it now – it’s very good, though a bit overly wordy and long for my tastes – still, recommended. She feels that surveillance capitalism is a new thing (about twenty years old), so it may take a while to truly mount a campaign against it. She optimistic that democracy, which respects people’s privacy, will win out. Here’s an hour long documentary that gives her thoughts on it in a nutshell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIXhnWUmMvw
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I’m not surprised at the slightest by this considering how we’ve seen this behavior for decades now: societies and individuals alike choosing to indebt themselves to fight their way out of a debt they were already in to start with.
Similarly with privacy, people are simply not aware of the interest or hidden fees that they may have to pay in the long run if they are not careful with this practice. The only difference being that these apps and services are engineered to be addictive and trick the mind into keep using the service, one day right after another, without they being even aware of this.
@MarkG_108 That is an excellent book and I’d recommend it as well to anyone interested in this. Since we’re still within the holiday season considering gifting to someone that you care about; even to simply inform them of the existence of this book already goes a long way in raise awareness of the issue.
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There is some significant pushback in California. California has enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which is a significant victory for privacy advocates. https://in.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-retail-privacy/do-not-sell-my-info-u-s-retailers-rush-to-comply-with-california-privacy-law-idINKBN1YZ04D
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Here’s an hour long documentary that gives her thoughts on it in a nutshell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIXhnWUmMvw
Maybe after you finish the book, you’ll link videos like this: https://invidio.us/watch?v=hIXhnWUmMvw
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I don’t necessarily agree that this is a new thing, I have membership cards with barcodes that are over 30 years old now. However, I do concur that the scale at which this goes on with or without our consent has changed.
It’s true. This is how we will lose all of our rights because people want the government and corporations like Google and Facebook to protect them. So they are willing to give up their free speech, their right to defend themselves, and freedom of movement because they’re simply too incompetent to do anything for themselves. America is slowly becoming a socialist state.
BlackBerry was supposed to be the paragon of mobile security and privacy… But when I proposed E to BlackBerry users on crackberry, they all pretty much shunned me and told me they all love Google services… What an eye-opener. I guess they only care about BlackBerry for the brand or physical keyboard, but not for security or privacy.
Proof that people are caring less and less. I will continue to defend our freedoms and rights regardless of what the masses think.
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“But when I proposed E to BlackBerry users on crackberry, they all pretty much shunned me and told me they all love Google services…” - ouch, what a brainless way of using a smartphone.
Also, there were news recently: “Any money Edward Snowden makes from his recent memoir and paid speeches must be handed to the U.S. government, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/edward-snowden-book-profits-must-be-handed-to-the-government-judge-rules
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Really? Please elaborate 
I really don’t want to go down that road but I think the previous post from @kalman, linking to the news article about Snowden is pretty damn well obvious that the American government is not happy with what he did. There’s a whole process in publishing a book and there’s more people involved getting paid than the author; this ruling is affecting other people simply for doing their jobs…
Not that I agree with @rebellwin at all in that statement. I honestly think that is not the case. The American government is simply one out of many governments interested in keeping surveillance high secret to keep their people in check (and if they can profit from it all the better). There’s nothing political about it it’s just straight up business.
Thanks for the tip. Mind you, Zuboff’s main point is that the only real way to address privacy concerns is through collective action, rather than individual action. Thus, people demanding laws that protect our right to privacy is the way we need to approach this.
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