At this stage it doesn't matter if it is carefully calculated effort to gradually strip off people from the very sense of any privacy with longing effects on a society (like I described here [1]) or it's some company trying to legalize Spyware Engine for it's own convenience covering it with some
story to justify it. Usually they use children for such cover story because people have direct emotional response to that topic and thus stop thinking for just enough time to miss the important issue.
The important issue here is an attempt of Spyware Engine installation/legalization on personal device.
I think this is much more serious than many people might see it at the moment.
I think it is attack on a very fabric of free democratic society where human rights have real meanings. It is done by people who do not share those values or not familiar with them or simply do not care about them or even worse - doing it on purpose.
Many can think of their personal device as their home. Some can even think of it as extension of their mind. It is very personal space and attempts to invade it can/should be considered not less serious then invasion into your private home.
Even critics can admit that your personal device indeed can be in your private home space and connectivity of such personal device should not automatically mean that someone or something like AI under control of someone should access it and spy on you without warrant.
Companies are doing shitty things for some time now and they are getting away with them. This can be a reason why they move forward with unacceptable practices of surveillance. Perhaps those companies do not understand that surveillance is completely incompatible with free democratic societies respecting human rights and there is no way they can succeed in combining two incompatible things unless they wish to repeat China way of doing thing. And I believe the later would not be met gladly I even think not so much possible without using firearms to which people would resist with the same effort like they did many times in history to protect own freedom.
At this stage I think it is much more serious than just writing a letter.
There should be a law protection of your personal computer from any Spyware Engine/Agent for any reason other then warrant to avoid bigger and possibly deadly confrontations.
Just like your home as your personal space should be protected from Search without warrant in Fourth Amendment [2]. Your personal device is much more personal then your home in a way and deserve to be guarded accordingly. I am not a lawyer and perhaps Fourth Amendment is already enough but then it should be used properly to prevent Spyware Engines in personal devices.
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Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
* [2]
The Fourth Amendment originally enforced the notion that “each man’s home is his castle”, secure from unreasonable searches and seizures of property by the government. It protects against arbitrary arrests, and is the basis of the law regarding search warrants, stop-and-frisk, safety inspections, wiretaps, and other forms of surveillance, as well as being central to many other criminal law topics and to privacy law. [2]
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28084578
[2] https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fourth_amendment