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The Rise of ‘Luxury Surveillance’

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Rise of ‘Luxury Surveillance’

#11

Post by infogulch »

adolph wrote: post #2

I hope this doesn't get flagged, although I thought to flag it about a quarter of the way in. Essentially the thesis is that people opting into personal surveillance are changing norms, changes that will be misused by state and employer power against people who don't opt in. Hidden below all of this is the normalization of surveillance that consistently targets marginalized communities. The difference between a smart…

> The difference between a smartwatch and an ankle monitor ...

The real difference is who can access and control the generated data. An ankle monitor's purpose is explicitly to send your location history to the government. A smartwatch's purpose is ostensibly to help you record your activities so you can analyze and optimize your life, which on its own is not unreasonable, but in reality there is little separating the government from that data so it's practically the same as an ankle monitor.

The solution here isn't more regulation, it's individual sovereignty over data you generate. Maybe that means software goes back to being software and the market for a 'data service provider' is squeezed out.

Re: The Rise of ‘Luxury Surveillance’

#12

Post by yamtaddle »

sokoloff wrote: post #10
ewzimm wrote: post #5

If there were an Amazon Prison option, I wonder how many people would choose it. Need to serve time? Skip the cell and stay home with a robust suite of real-time behavior analytics to ensure compliance. Conversations are processed locally and scanned for restricted subjects with advanced AI. A special Amazon Prison store offers a full suite of approved products with automatic payments, accessible with Alexa, and cust…

If I had the choice to serve a sentence in real prison or Amazon Prison, I’m 100% on Team Jassy.

Almost anything would be worth it to avoid prolonged contact with other prisoners and prison guards.

Re: The Rise of ‘Luxury Surveillance’

#13

Post by tomcam »

yamtaddle wrote: post #12
sokoloff wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I had the choice to serve a sentence in real prison or Amazon Prison, I’m 100% on Team Jassy.

Almost anything would be worth it to avoid prolonged contact with other prisoners and prison guards.

I have been incarcerated, and that is a yes from me as well

Re: The Rise of ‘Luxury Surveillance’

#14

Post by radicaldreamer »

ewzimm wrote: post #5

If there were an Amazon Prison option, I wonder how many people would choose it. Need to serve time? Skip the cell and stay home with a robust suite of real-time behavior analytics to ensure compliance. Conversations are processed locally and scanned for restricted subjects with advanced AI. A special Amazon Prison store offers a full suite of approved products with automatic payments, accessible with Alexa, and cust…

Why would you not choose this over what prison is currently like?

This is like asking whether people would prefer home confinement to being in a prison cell

Re: The Rise of ‘Luxury Surveillance’

#16

Post by sokoloff »

infogulch wrote: post #11
adolph wrote: post #2

I hope this doesn't get flagged, although I thought to flag it about a quarter of the way in. Essentially the thesis is that people opting into personal surveillance are changing norms, changes that will be misused by state and employer power against people who don't opt in. Hidden below all of this is the normalization of surveillance that consistently targets marginalized communities. The difference between a smart…

> The difference between a smartwatch and an ankle monitor ... The real difference is who can access and control the generated data . An ankle monitor's purpose is explicitly to send your location history to the government. A smartwatch's purpose is ostensibly to help you record your activities so you can analyze and optimize your life, which on its own is not unreasonable, but in reality there is little separating t…

I’m having a hard time drawing a conclusion of “practically the same” for a device you’re free to remove at any time without consequences versus one that gets you sent back to prison for a parole violation if you voluntarily remove it.

Re: The Rise of ‘Luxury Surveillance’

#17

Post by systemvoltage »

ewzimm wrote: post #5

If there were an Amazon Prison option, I wonder how many people would choose it. Need to serve time? Skip the cell and stay home with a robust suite of real-time behavior analytics to ensure compliance. Conversations are processed locally and scanned for restricted subjects with advanced AI. A special Amazon Prison store offers a full suite of approved products with automatic payments, accessible with Alexa, and cust…

We like to pick on Amazon disproportionately I think. At least in my situation, Apple and Google know far more about me in the most terrifying ways than Amazon. Apple has access* to my entire Phone and over 12 years of phone backups on iCloud. My most intimate conversations, photos, medical and biometric data, etc. Amazon has access to purchase history, not much more since I don't use Alexa.

* I understand its all encrypted but we're wearing tin foils at the moment.

Re: The Rise of ‘Luxury Surveillance’

#18

Post by pwinnski »

radicaldreamer wrote: post #14
ewzimm wrote: post #5

If there were an Amazon Prison option, I wonder how many people would choose it. Need to serve time? Skip the cell and stay home with a robust suite of real-time behavior analytics to ensure compliance. Conversations are processed locally and scanned for restricted subjects with advanced AI. A special Amazon Prison store offers a full suite of approved products with automatic payments, accessible with Alexa, and cust…

Why would you not choose this over what prison is currently like? This is like asking whether people would prefer home confinement to being in a prison cell

You're halfway there. Now consider: why are people paying to put themselves in a light-security prison?

Re: The Rise of ‘Luxury Surveillance’

#19

Post by DiggyJohnson »

pooper wrote: post #4
adolph wrote: post #2

I hope this doesn't get flagged, although I thought to flag it about a quarter of the way in. Essentially the thesis is that people opting into personal surveillance are changing norms, changes that will be misused by state and employer power against people who don't opt in. Hidden below all of this is the normalization of surveillance that consistently targets marginalized communities. The difference between a smart…

I haven't read the article but I think the outrage is misplaced. There are people forced to wear a Islamic head dress. The solution is not to ban Islamic head dress. There are people forced into sex slavery and prostitution. The solution isn't to ban prostitution. There are people who are forced into an abortion. The solution is not to ban abortion. The solution to abuse cannot be curtailing of rights.

It is shocking how much this extra level of discussion about values and policy is not addressed. Thanks for making it so succinctly.

Re: The Rise of ‘Luxury Surveillance’

#20

Post by nostrademons »

radicaldreamer wrote: post #14
ewzimm wrote: post #5

If there were an Amazon Prison option, I wonder how many people would choose it. Need to serve time? Skip the cell and stay home with a robust suite of real-time behavior analytics to ensure compliance. Conversations are processed locally and scanned for restricted subjects with advanced AI. A special Amazon Prison store offers a full suite of approved products with automatic payments, accessible with Alexa, and cust…

Why would you not choose this over what prison is currently like? This is like asking whether people would prefer home confinement to being in a prison cell

Interestingly the state has an incentive to take this approach too: it's much cheaper. If you can monitor & enforce confinement without actually building any prisons, you don't need to budget for prisons, you don't need to operate prisons (or contract out to them), and you can avoid the political blowback of the prison/industrial complex.

The limiting case for this is the Matrix or Metaverse, where everybody voluntarily confines themselves to their home and interacts with each other only according to the rules of the governing software. No possibility for crime because there are no unmediated interactions, and the state has total control.

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