I found it stunningly naive. So far the actual response of governments to citizen surveillance has been to make it illegal whenever it becomes inconvenient, and of course government systems are always fenced in with ‘protections’ to prevent private individuals from ‘misusing’ the data they collect. In an actual surveillance state the agency with control of the surveillance system would have the ability to imprison anyone at any time while being nearly immune to retaliation, a situation that ensures it will quickly mutate into an oppressive autocracy no matter what it started out as.
This has the cheering implication that surveillance by citizens makes a difference when it does happen, and it’s important to push to make sure it’s legal.
I found it stunningly naive. So far the actual response of governments to citizen surveillance has been to make it illegal whenever it becomes inconvenient, and of course government systems are always fenced in with ‘protections’ to prevent private individuals from ‘misusing’ the data they collect. In an actual surveillance state the agency with control of the surveillance system would have the ability to imprison anyone at any time while being nearly immune to retaliation, a situation that ensures it will quickly mutate into an oppressive autocracy no matter what it started out as.
This has the cheering implication that surveillance by citizens makes a difference when it does happen, and it’s important to push to make sure it’s legal.