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The EARN IT bill is back, seeking to scan our messages and photos

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191–200 of 494 posts

Re: The EARN IT bill is back, seeking to scan our messages and photos

#191
post #7

A reminder that "you have nothing to hide" argument is a fallacy because people abuse their power: Some first hits as reminders of places where their powers are abused [1]: "NSA staff used spy tools on spouses, ex-lovers: watchdog" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-surveillance-watchdog... [2]: https://reason.com/2022/07/26/police-can-access-your-ring-ca... [3]: https://reason.com/2021/04/26/warrantless-border-s…

Anyone who uses that argument, ask them to hand you their phone, unlocked, and a list of passwords for all of their accounts. If you have nothing to hide, why would you have a problem with me poking around in the most intimate aspects of your life?

This doesn't really convince them. To them, a friend might be someone they want to hide things from, but they won’t care about some unknown government entity having access.

Re: The EARN IT bill is back, seeking to scan our messages and photos

#192
post #91
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I met her at an SVLG dinner and had a discussion about encryption; it became instantly clear she doesn’t know what a computer is past that it is a TV that takes input, and that encryption is just “evil people wanting to do evil things.” There was no reasoning with her either, frankly because she is well-aged, and thus thinks herself “wise” with very little left to learn. It was honestly infuriating. [edit] In case an…

Even among the dinosaurs in the US Senate, Feinstein stands alone in her striking ability to be willfully ignorant about anything developed after the steam locomotive. The country would be an objectively better place if both the House and Senate had a mandatory retirement age.

She's not any more intelligent regarding other topics. Firearms being a prime example.

Re: The EARN IT bill is back, seeking to scan our messages and photos

#193
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People abuse their power, but that wouldn't matter if you really had nothing to hide. But everybody has something to hide. Your social security number? Your bank account number? Your debit card PIN? Yeah, pretty sure you have something to hide.

No. Sorry. This is invalid. It would be pretty bad if we declare some shit illegal and retroactively apply the "law". You will be charged for shit that everyone did and is perfectly fine. For example: How would you like to go to jail for not being a Christian? This will be weaponized. This is what fascism looks like.

Imagine they make Marijuana illegal again in the states where is legal know.

Before that you shared your consuming habits online.

Then it becomes illegal.

You are now a suspect and get a search warrant and if they find traces of marijuana you go to jail.

Re: The EARN IT bill is back, seeking to scan our messages and photos

#194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like to ask why they have a door on their bathroom.

I routinely pose that question to my kids. And yet, they still poop with the door open. And without the ventilation fan. I keep hoping that eventually I will get through to them. Maybe I'll just put a spring-loaded hinge on the bathroom doors and a motion-activated ventilation fan.

When my 4 year old closes a door, it usually means she's up to no good.

Re: The EARN IT bill is back, seeking to scan our messages and photos

#195
post #7

A reminder that "you have nothing to hide" argument is a fallacy because people abuse their power: Some first hits as reminders of places where their powers are abused [1]: "NSA staff used spy tools on spouses, ex-lovers: watchdog" https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-surveillance-watchdog... [2]: https://reason.com/2022/07/26/police-can-access-your-ring-ca... [3]: https://reason.com/2021/04/26/warrantless-border-s…

Nothing to hide is a premise based on most people being terrified of confrontation. It's an intentional staging to force confrontation or capitulation.

When people say they have nothing to hide, in most cases what they're actually saying is that they're afraid of the confrontation implicit in the opposite response (I'm going to forcefully argue for a right to privacy). They're telling you that they're a coward.

Re: The EARN IT bill is back, seeking to scan our messages and photos

#196

I’m reminded by a speech by Frederick Douglass [1] that >This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these w…

Douglass was such a mind. I need to actually read through his various memoirs and essays/correspondence.

Re: The EARN IT bill is back, seeking to scan our messages and photos

#197
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My senator Duckworth is going to respond back with a from letter stating "OMG THE CHILDREN". (Just like she did for the first Earn act concern I sent). Might as well add her name on there too.

And it'll keep being persuasive to her voters until people come up with a meaningful counter-proposal that does a better job of addressing child safety online while also protecting privacy.

[deleted]

Re: The EARN IT bill is back, seeking to scan our messages and photos

#198
post #132

I find myself consistently disappointed when reading blog posts like this. I generally agree with the principles that the EFF advocates for, but it's hard to see this post as anything other than rage-bait. I can't trust it to be an accurate source of information on what this bill actually does. For example, I've repeatedly seen claims that this bill would effectively outlaw end-to-end encryption, but the bill explici…

[flagged]

So 1984 style listening devices and cameras in every home is the obvious solution right? Houses are where a lot of abuse happens. Scanning doesn’t even stop abuse from happening, just the possession and distribution of it.

Re: The EARN IT bill is back, seeking to scan our messages and photos

#199
post #190
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with everything you said, but you missed my point somewhat. You and I know that a senator is not an in-state representative, and that their work is federal in nature. Most people who vote do not know that, and do not understand the distinction between state reps and federal reps. If you took a poll, how many people do you think would even know CA had a state senate and separate federal senators? I would surmi…

> If you took a poll, how many people do you think would even know CA had a state senate and separate federal senators? I would surmise very few. Sadly, agreed. Perhaps this is a component in the ever-growing push of state issues into the federal level. > ...CA has many issues it needs to address. So does literally every state... instead realize that most Californians like it here... Well, this is saying nothing at a…

I used to live in MA. People complained about it all the time. Same goes for when I lived in NYC.

I do not get the sense that the political climate in CA is any different than those were when I lived there, excepting perhaps San Francisco which is, incidentally, the same discourse as is happening about NYC in NYC right now too (lots of friends and my family still lives there).

I’m not trying to qualify my love for CA; I was making the point that the people who vote Feinstein (or McConnell) in are generally happy with the status quo in their state. CA was mentioned specifically because we were discussing Feinstein, but that’s why people vote them in; they’re generally content with the status quo.

The ones who are unhappy either leave to states that fit them better (if they have the means), or complain about it to their friends and/or on HN/Twitter. But it isn’t the majority.

Re: The EARN IT bill is back, seeking to scan our messages and photos

#200
post #148

I find myself consistently disappointed when reading blog posts like this. I generally agree with the principles that the EFF advocates for, but it's hard to see this post as anything other than rage-bait. I can't trust it to be an accurate source of information on what this bill actually does. For example, I've repeatedly seen claims that this bill would effectively outlaw end-to-end encryption, but the bill explici…

The EFF seems to be going the way of many advocacy groups, where as time goes by their positions on the things they advocate for become less nuanced and they stop taking into consideration how those things fit into the big picture. An example of this is the National Rifle Association (NRA). They used to think that carrying guns around in public should be restricted and require licensing, and that dealers should need…

This. The EFF used to be a force for good, but they are now free speech and privacy extremists backed principally by a tech industry that simply doesn't want to be liable for their negative impact on society.

The EFF will not ever support a regulation on big tech behavior.

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