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The FBI Is Tracking Our Faces in Secret, and We’re Suing

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Re: The FBI Is Tracking Our Faces in Secret, and We’re Suing

#101

Post by state_less »

bilbo0s wrote: post #93
state_less wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I'd say, "My party cares enough about safety that we voted that any card carrying party member can do a citizen search if they sense anything suspicious about another citizen. So hand over the phone" Hopefully we can install a sense of where things can lead to. Most folks aren't familiar with such strong tactics, but hopefully they are starting to become more so with party sanctioned violence (e.g. punch that opp…

There's the trap they'd get you into though. With mass and ubiquitous surveillance, they don't even need citizen searches anymore. So the person you are talking to would likely report you for impersonating. An agent who was really acting on behalf of the government doesn't need to execute a citizen search of that data. What I'm trying to point out is that your line of questioning would not impact her view of the gove…

She would probably agree that the government is made up of officials that we elect though right?

So what if the people in the majority party want to usurp power from the minority citizens. Even if only for the reason that they want to keep a 'dangerous party' from taking power. Practicalities about search techniques don't matter in such circumstances. Just imagine a party that is ready to punch the minority party members in the face. Such a party wouldn't think twice about a party member taking the liberty to search suspicious non-party members...

In such cases, it'd be nice if no matter who's in power, there are some laws that must be followed. That's pretty much what the bill of rights is about and it includes protection against unreasonable search. The 4th's a good one because it limits a majorities ability to overpower a minority.

Re: The FBI Is Tracking Our Faces in Secret, and We’re Suing

#102

Post by dredmorbius »

pmoriarty wrote: post #92
dredmorbius wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly second the lite recommendation. Include "?kd=-1" to disable interstitial redirects on links. Discussed here, with a link to full parameters: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21384425

They probably meant "&kd=-1" Take a look at the parameter list in the linked page. There's no "fd" in there.

Damnit, yes.

I've edited my comment in this thread, posted a reply to the earlier one.

Re: The FBI Is Tracking Our Faces in Secret, and We’re Suing

#103

Post by blacksmith_tb »

x220 wrote: post #42
mfer wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've spoken with people who have said they are ok with it. But, when I start asking questions or sharing details on how this has been abused I tend to find they have not thought it through and are often unaware. In some cases people think I'm crazy until I show them press coverage on it. I've learned that many don't have the depth of knowledge I have on the topic and have formed opinions with a puddles worth of infor…

Democracy was a mistake. These people shouldn't be allowed to vote.

A bit less catchy than Mencken's "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."[1]

1: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken#1910s

Re: The FBI Is Tracking Our Faces in Secret, and We’re Suing

#104

Post by groby_b »

caconym_ wrote: post #7

I wish we would stop emphasizing the social justice/accuracy concerns so heavily when talking about this. Starting that way will cause a huge segment of the population to switch off as soon as you start talking. Imagine it works perfectly, and a three-letter agency with practically zero oversight, transparency, or accountability is collecting an accurate history of every single thing you do--everywhere you go, who yo…

So, wait, targeting political expression with a tech that doesn't even work is less of a concern than some fantasy technology that doesn't even exist?

Because talking about Social Justice is bad? And mentioning that black people are disproportionately affected is bad?

Are you sure you aren't suggesting we should simply talk less about activists, minorities, and poor people, and more about affluent white people?

Re: The FBI Is Tracking Our Faces in Secret, and We’re Suing

#105

Post by throwaway2048 »

1000units wrote: post #68
cabaalis wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a pretty common sentiment and even law for quite some time. A bunch of people died and/or devoted their lives to changing that.

In some places this has happened in the opposite direction.

Where?

Re: The FBI Is Tracking Our Faces in Secret, and We’re Suing

#106

Post by sp332 »

Falling3 wrote: post #53
sp332 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's all working fine for me - messages, feed, photos. I can't see that it contains, loads, or calls any JS on the page at all.

I've tried disabling javascript several ways, and they all lead to a complete crippling of the site. 30+ JS scripts are load. As it should be obvious from using the mobile version of the site that it makes heavy use of javascript. Even the source is riddled with script tags. I have no idea how you're coming to your conclusion, but it matches none of what I'm seeing.

This is what I got. https://www.dropbox.com/s/vm7pm3msx315h2z/Facebook.html?dl=0 All the links are broken in this file from a quick attempt to anonymize my friends, but everything else is intact. No script tags. I intentionally used the mobile site because it's an example of an extremely popular site that doesn't use JS.

Re: The FBI Is Tracking Our Faces in Secret, and We’re Suing

#107

Post by sp332 »

kgwxd wrote: post #16
throw1234651234 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am hard-pressed to think of a popular page which doesn't use JavaScript.

This site doesn't require javascript to be usable.

This site is #3,793 in Alexa rankings. Maybe it doesn't count as a popular site.

Re: The FBI Is Tracking Our Faces in Secret, and We’re Suing

#108

Post by bilbo0s »

state_less wrote: post #101
bilbo0s wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's the trap they'd get you into though. With mass and ubiquitous surveillance, they don't even need citizen searches anymore. So the person you are talking to would likely report you for impersonating. An agent who was really acting on behalf of the government doesn't need to execute a citizen search of that data. What I'm trying to point out is that your line of questioning would not impact her view of the gove…

She would probably agree that the government is made up of officials that we elect though right? So what if the people in the majority party want to usurp power from the minority citizens. Even if only for the reason that they want to keep a 'dangerous party' from taking power. Practicalities about search techniques don't matter in such circumstances. Just imagine a party that is ready to punch the minority party mem…

What you're not getting is that the people doing this don't care about the 4th Amendment. (Or, more accurately, they are more than willing to rationalize away their violation of the 4th Amendment. Like the beat cop doing a "Stop and Frisk" on some black kid. The 4th just doesn't mean anything to him.)

The people controlling access to these datasets are not from either party. They are not elected. In the vast majority of cases, they are not even known.

You're assuming politicians are in control of these datasets. I'm just asking you to consider the very real possibility that they are not. In most cases, I'm betting politicians can't even request access to these datasets without tripping flags. (And "leaks" if the people in charge think leaking that politician's request will serve them.) Politicians learned long ago, (ABSCAM), not to mess with these people.

I just don't think you appreciate the depth of the problem if you're thinking on the level of the politician.

Re: The FBI Is Tracking Our Faces in Secret, and We’re Suing

#109

Post by kevingadd »

caconym_ wrote: post #7

I wish we would stop emphasizing the social justice/accuracy concerns so heavily when talking about this. Starting that way will cause a huge segment of the population to switch off as soon as you start talking. Imagine it works perfectly, and a three-letter agency with practically zero oversight, transparency, or accountability is collecting an accurate history of every single thing you do--everywhere you go, who yo…

It is ultimately a social justice issue no matter how you contextualize it.

Think about it this way: If the government has complete access to your life, that simplifies targeting you for any reason they might select, and history has shown that social justice is a big factor because law enforcement has a history of targeting vulnerable minorities, even if they don't do it as much now.

Are your politics uncommon? Is your skin color uncommon? Is your sexuality uncommon? Does someone in the local police department just plain dislike you? We used to perform witch-hunts on communists. Conservatives already observe (regardless of whether you believe this to be true) persecution by the government, and left-wing and far-right groups actively are subject to the same in some cases right now.

Even if the technology is only partial surveillance and detection, it trivializes applying the "Give me six lines written by the most honest man in the world, and I will find enough in them to hang him" trope to literally anyone, because now they have access to most of the words we've said in our entire lives, including quotes. And they could do selective editing to recontextualize them.

Re: The FBI Is Tracking Our Faces in Secret, and We’re Suing

#110

Post by derp_dee_derp »

oil25 wrote: post #87
altec3 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's great if websites work without Javascript but, I don't think its fair to call them poorly designed if they dont. The web is made from HTML, CSS and Javascript. Turn off one of them and of course things aren't going to work or look right.

> The web is made from HTML, CSS and Javascript. Considering the World Wide Web predates Javascript by many years, and the fact it's possible to create a functional, readable, and accessible Web page without Javascript altogether, this characterization is absolutely inaccurate.

Do you ride a horse to get to work, too?
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