When it comes to internet privacy, be afraid, analyst suggests • Hacker News Board

Re: When it comes to internet privacy, be afraid, analyst suggests

#261

Post by hsdfusa » Fri, Sep 01, 2017, 9:04 PM UTC

westmeal wrote: post #244

hsdfusa wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We seem to follow a policy of progress by all means until we've developed our way into a future in which the continued subsistence of humanity (at least on earth) is untenable. I just don't see how you got to this conclusion. In what way could technological progress make it untenable for humanity to continue?

Not him but you see this very thing now. Look at pollution and CO2 emissions for an example of how technological progress can directly threaten humanity.

But won't technological progress in electric transportation severely stunt the problem of emissions and pollution?

Re: When it comes to internet privacy, be afraid, analyst suggests

#262

Post by hsdfusa » Fri, Sep 01, 2017, 9:18 PM UTC

to_bpr wrote: post #233

hsdfusa wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> something unavoidable and self-destructive about human nature. What specifically? Wanting power and control?

>What specifically? Wanting power and control? What about the fact that we're the only species to hoard way more resources than we'll ever need, to the point where we're quite literally destroying the environment and life around us in order to maintain our over-consumption of resources?

Fair, but at that point I don't see how there is any relationship to computers, which was OP's point.

Re: When it comes to internet privacy, be afraid, analyst suggests

#263

Post by 0xBA5ED » Sat, Sep 02, 2017, 12:33 AM UTC

peterwwillis wrote: post #249

0xBA5ED wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't call it "tinfoil hat" because the cost/benefit is extremely low. Negligible effort in exchange for piece of mind. It's a reasonable trade-off. You can never be sure what all your software is doing unless you piece together your own linux system from scratch.

That's what a tinfoil hat is. Nobody wants to watch your particular webcam, just like the government does not want to influence your particular brain. But people put on the tinfoil hat anyway because it's cheap and it gives them piece of mind. You could also just implement strong security guarantees according to best practice for your OS, but the piece of paper is definitely much cheaper and more effective for this o…

I believe "tinfoil hat" implies illogic as well. Reasonable trade-offs aren't illogical. Also, it's been proven that it's entirely inside the realm of possibility that state agents are infiltrating our systems and gathering sensor data, and it's far more likely than alien mind probes that can be thwarted with tinfoil...

Re: When it comes to internet privacy, be afraid, analyst suggests

#264

Post by 1001101 » Sat, Sep 02, 2017, 4:33 PM UTC

482794793792894 wrote: post #248

stephengillie wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe fear isn't the right reaction. We have almost no privacy, and the world isn't ending. Many of us goto work or school, just as before we were so heavily surveiled. Also, who makes money off us being afraid of not having privacy?

The already linked Panopticon shows that a lack of privacy can lead to severe mental problems. The Stasi subdued an entire country via surveillance and that before the internet, before CCTV and before everyone voluntarily carried a microphone in their pocket.

Watching The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) had a profound impact on me. I was aware of ECHELON, Carnivore, DCS, Wm. Binney, etc. before Snowden, but since Snowden/Greenwald, it really became visceral. It's been a rough ride for me, and many people I know.