"Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think." - Neil Postman in Amusing Ourselves to Death
Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook
141–150 of 308 posts
Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook
#142Personally, I think Google is just as terrifying, possibly more. As an example, just take a fairly normal life situation like going out for dinner with some friends, and think about how much of it goes "through" Google: --- One of your friends sends an email to 6 others, to ask if everyone's free for dinner on Friday. 5 of the 7 people involved use gmail or a google apps address. You've never heard of the restaurant…
You can go a long way to blocking a lot of these by using some alternatives: * Using DuckDuckGo ( https://duckduckgo.com/ ). It is really decent and has good desktop and mobile integration. * Using a browser like Brave ( https://www.brave.com/ ) that blocks trackers etc. Android app is superb. * Using a Maps replacement like OSM ( https://www.openstreetmap.org ) on desktop and OsmAnd on mobile ( https://play.google.c…
Thanks. I have been using Firefox + uBlock on Android, but Brave seems to run much better on my non-flagship smartphone.
Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There's no evil overlord at the top of either company (I hope) We'll have to disagree here. I think Zuckerberg is an evil, amoral person to his core. This hardly needs reposting, but I can't recall Brin or Page ever going on the record calling their users "dumb fucks".[0] [0] http://www.businessinsider.com/embarrassing-and-damaging-zuc...
Sure. And former Google CEO Eric Schmidt famously remarked on the subject of privacy, "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." Whatever you think of the people, corporations are not people and their behaviour is only partially directed by them. The most reliable predictor of their direction is their bottom line, and the intelligence of the people…
>Bear in mind that Google was so self-aware of the abuse potential of their position that they adopted "Don't be evil" as a corporate motto - until they dropped it on the grounds that it was underspecified, which strikes me as a quintessential example of corporate amoralism - evil, if you will.
This is why Zuckerberg and Facebook bothers me so much. He is seemingly completely unaware or unwilling to admit the potential for abuse that his technology has created. His messianic complex disallows him from even acknowledging that perhaps there are tradeoffs being made in the name of "connecting the world (that is, making absurd profits)" which are compromising the very stability of our civilization.
Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most developed countries have similar systems in place. Heck, I'd wager that the US is lagging behind other countries in this area, primarily due to its size.
What is this list of most countries? I am certain this is illegal in Sweden, for example.
About 5 seconds of googling yielded these street cameras in Sweden:
https://trafiken.nu/goteborg/Kameror/Alla-Kameror/
http://www.webbkameror.se/trafikkameror/trafikkameror_kalm_1...
Also...
https://www.wired.com/2010/12/swedish-speed-camera-pays-driv...
Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I can affect just one person here today... Please please please stop using Gmail for important communication and account recovery (banking, mission critical services you maintain, etc etc). Use a paid service from a reputable company who does that one thing only and does it well. Too many Gmail horror stories.
Can you recommend a paid email service that is reputable?
I can recommend Fastmail. No affiliation, just a happy customer. I've used Gmail for several years previously and thought I'd miss it when switching. I didn't.
Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is this list of most countries? I am certain this is illegal in Sweden, for example.
About 5 seconds of googling yielded these street cameras in Sweden: https://trafiken.nu/goteborg/Kameror/Alla-Kameror/ http://www.webbkameror.se/trafikkameror/trafikkameror_kalm_1... Also... https://www.wired.com/2010/12/swedish-speed-camera-pays-driv...
Having cameras and having an effective tracking system based on them is a big difference. (No idea about the swedish situation, but in Germany proposals to give police access to information from traffic enforcement cameras for criminal cases have been a huge topic)
Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hate to break it to you but the state police and most toll road authorities have put an entire network of cameras on every major interstate and road system to be able to track cars.
I don't live in America :P
No, but there are plenty of cameras in South Wales.
Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hate to break it to you but the state police and most toll road authorities have put an entire network of cameras on every major interstate and road system to be able to track cars.
I don't live in America :P
Looks like you're from Wales. Here's a great national site that you can see the live traffic cameras:
http://www.traffic-wales.com/?lang=en-GB
Just filter the map by CCTV and choose the icon to view the live video.
Enjoy!
Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
About 5 seconds of googling yielded these street cameras in Sweden: https://trafiken.nu/goteborg/Kameror/Alla-Kameror/ http://www.webbkameror.se/trafikkameror/trafikkameror_kalm_1... Also... https://www.wired.com/2010/12/swedish-speed-camera-pays-driv...
Having cameras and having an effective tracking system based on them is a big difference. (No idea about the swedish situation, but in Germany proposals to give police access to information from traffic enforcement cameras for criminal cases have been a huge topic)
If I can access the feed I can build a tracking system (how effective it is, is always a big variable).
Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook
#150Personally, I think Google is just as terrifying, possibly more. As an example, just take a fairly normal life situation like going out for dinner with some friends, and think about how much of it goes "through" Google: --- One of your friends sends an email to 6 others, to ask if everyone's free for dinner on Friday. 5 of the 7 people involved use gmail or a google apps address. You've never heard of the restaurant…
What exactly is scary in that scenario? So Google knows that you went somewhere and who your friends are. I don't see a problem.
The actually bad thing would be something like - you watch alt-right YouTube videos, and Google doesn't hire you because of that if you apply for a job. But even that isn't remotely close to the totalitarian government level of oppression, where you get executed for disagreeing with the party line.
Chances are, you are not important, and nobody cares where you go to eat and whoats with you.