zlacker

>>locopa+(OP)
Flock really does have a huge amount of potential for abuse. It's a fair point that private companies (e.g. Google, etc) have way more surveillance on us than the government does, but the US and local governments having this level of surveillance should also worry folks. There's massive potential for abuse. And frankly, I don't trust most local police departments to not have someone that would use this to stalk their ex or use it in other abusive ways. I weirdly actually trust Google's interests in surveillance (i.e. marketing) more than I trust the government's legitimate need to monitor in some cases to track crimes. Things get scary quick when mass surveillance is combined with (often selective) prosecution.

>>jofer+Y8

  > I weirdly actually trust Google's interests in surveillance more than I trust the government's

I don't think this is weird at all. Corporations may be more "malicious" (or at least self centered), but governments have more power. So even if you believe they are good and have good intentions it still has the potential to do far more harm. Google can manipulate you but the government can manipulate you, throw you in jail, and rewrite the rules so you have no recourse. Even if the government can get the data from those companies there's at least a speed bump. Even if a speed bump isn't hard to get over are we going to pretend that some friction is no different from no friction?

Turnkey tyranny is a horrific thing. One that I hope more people are becoming aware of as it's happening in many countries right now.[0]

This doesn't make surveillance capitalism good and I absolutely hate those comparisons because they make the assumption that harm is binary. That there's no degree of harm. That two things can't be bad at the same time and that just because one is worse that means the other is okay. This is absolute bullshit thinking and I cannot stand how common it is, even on this site.

[0] my biggest fear is that we still won't learn. The problem has always been that the road to is paved with good intentions. Evil is not just created by evil men, but also my good men trying to do good. The world is complex and we have this incredible power of foresight. While far from perfect we seem to despise this capability that made us the creatures we are today. I'm sorry, the world is complex. Evil is hard to identify. But you got this powerful brain to deal with all that, if you want to

>>godels+Iv
>I don't think this is weird at all. Corporations may be more "malicious" (or at least self centered), but governments have more power. So even if you believe they are good and have good intentions it still has the potential to do far more harm. Google can manipulate you but the government can manipulate you, throw you in jail, and rewrite the rules so you have no recourse. Even if the government can get the data from those companies there's at least a speed bump. Even if a speed bump isn't hard to get over are we going to pretend that some friction is no different from no friction?

That's all as may be, but you're ignoring the fact that governments are buying[0][1][2][3] the data being collected by those corporations. That's not "friction" in my book, rather it's a commercial transaction.

As such, giving corporations a pass seems kind of silly, as they're profiting from selling that data to those with a monopoly on violence.

So, by all means, give the corporations the "benefit of the doubt" on this, as they certainly have no idea that they're selling this information to governments (well, to pretty much anyone willing to pay -- including domestic abusers and stalkers too), they're only acting as agents maximizing corporate profits for their shareholders. Which is the only important thing, right? Anything else is antithetical to free-market orthodoxy.

People suffer and/or die? Just the cost of doing business right?

[0] https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/us-government-buys-dat...

[1] https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/when-the-government-buy...

[2] https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116192/documents/...

[3] https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/02/28/government...