My threat model is against mass surveillance. This is one of the hardest threat models to defend against and to justify, because (at least here in the US), mass surveillance has become normalized. I’ve heard people directly tell me that “privacy is weird.” I’m not here to shoot down the Nothing to hide argument literally labelled on Wikipedia as “a logical fallacy,” instead, I want to take my own approach to show just how unnatural mass surveillance is.
Picture this: Your best friend tells you that he heard rumors that someone put cameras in your house and was actively spying on you. That is super creepy, but you brush it off and say that nobody would do that, because who would care that much about you? However, when you get home, you look around and find multiple dozen hidden cameras everywhere. Think about how you’re feeling right now, knowing that you’re being watched. Even though you know that you’re being watched, but have no idea who has been watching you, what they have seen, or how long they’ve been watching you, it’s disillusioning and creepy to find out that what your friend said was true.
Then, you do some digging online and find out that everyone in your neighborhood is also being watched. Oh, it’s fine then, right? Suddenly it’s much better that you’re not alone. No! More surveillance is not a good thing. People fall into the false belief that as long as it’s not targeted surveillance or a personal attack that it’s suddenly fine, that you will just blend in with the noise. Your data is valuable, and spying in any capacity is NOT normal. Remember: The situation never changed, you are still being watched, you just found out that not only you, but everyone around you is also being spied on.
You still have no idea who is watching you, and it’s even worse to find out that it might not just be one person, that anyone can buy this data for cheap. Data like this can be used to stalk you, drain your bank account, read intimate personal texts, rig elections, manipulate you into buying things you never intended to buy, and so much more. This is the state of mass surveillance and it needs to stop. It’s not a conspiracy, the dystopia is today.
Mass surveillance is not normal. Privacy also isn’t normal: it’s a right, instead.
“Normal is not something to aspire to, it’s something to get away from.” - Jodie Foster. This quote is referring to social norms, and how what is truly normal is not what is accepted, but what is right.
“Impering” is not a real word, (Fixed) I presume your question is if abnormalities can become new social norms, and what happens when that is the case (thereby creating a paradox within the quote). Abnormalities can become social norms, if given enough shift in social and cultural attitudes. The grim reality is that this is often leveraged in an immoral direction, such as the rise of mass surveillance. True privacy is not a solution either: The thought that privacy leads to an increase in crime is true and cannot be ignored, but removing privacy comes at a cost. Eventually that cost outweighs the benefits of privacy infringement, and we are far past that line. Criminals, however, will always find access to robust privacy; just as they have found access to guns. Removing privacy in the public does nothing but removing protection from those with privacy: governments and criminals alike. Unjust laws only burden the just, as the lawless will not heed them. Privacy is a right, not a privilege to be revoked due to the actions of a few.
we’ve traded privacy for access to ease, and i don’t think we’re going to able to put the genie back in the bottle
People have been conditioned to believe that determination of an act’s morality is somehow changed when when carried out on a large enough scale, or when performed by certain entities.
In all honesty, I believe it falls on each of us to educate as much people as possible in the actual dangers of mass surveillance and what are the potential options to minimize it’s impact.
For example, I’ve been advocating for privacy within my family, friends and other acquaintances for years now. Only recently have I managed to get my wife to start caring (some fearmongering was required) and have gotten a friend from church already on track to eliminating Google, Crapple, mainstream social networks and even self hosting. Some people at work have been reaching out to ask me how they can start moving away from the big tech overreach, and now even my kids have gotten their friends on Simplex, which have made some of their parents move to it as well.
Again, it’s taken me over 7 years to manage this little, but it’s something. If all of us keep doing this, avoiding getting to the point of annoying others (though I’ve annoyed quite a few persons with this, but whatever) more and more people will start moving in that direction.
Just getting some people to change from chrome to brave, which is one of the easiest things to do without making them change their streamlines, or move to Signal from SMS and WhatsApp, is already making headway.
If we get tired and stop preaching security, the surveillance wins. At least that’s how I see it.
Lol there is a ring camera on every door and an Alexa in every home. Mass surveillance is so normal they got “normies” to pay for it monthly.
There is a house that put a Ring camera on their fence… facing nothing but the public sidewalk and the properties of other people. Thankfully, they live on a common path for schoolers to walk home, who happily harass them by ringing it 100 times a day.
I toyed with many ideas, spray paint being one of them, but outdoor cameras such as that are designed to be water resistant and the spray paint would simply bead up and do no damage. It’s not my place to force privacy on others, I will just hope that one day they will realize how much of an issue that camera is.
Disappointing that the top comment is this dismissive take (whether or not it’s factually true).
If the best response we can muster is cynicism, we’ll get what we deserve.
