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An American Privacy Emergency

scottaaronson.blog

111–120 of 154 posts

Re: An American Privacy Emergency

#111
post #105
post #63

> On June 4, 2026, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce issued a directive (DAO 216-26) > DAO-216-26 bans differential privacy and other modern (and not so modern) techniques. It restricts disclosure avoidance techniques to “coarsening,” > DAO-216-26 forbids “noise infusion”, described as “methods that involve modifying a dataset by adding random values, or noise.” > By forbidding noise infusion, the directive bans the dis…

I have a very low opinion of the current US administration, which might be a blindspot when they do something both horrible and not caveman-like in its sophistication. I’m genuinely surprised they would look into differential privacy (again: this sounds judgmental, but I’m just trying to confess my prejudice). I’m more surprised that they were able to look into it and come to the conclusion that they should get rid o…

From the second linked article, this could be a motive:

> People who were using Census data to actually reconstruct records could no longer do so. Demographers admitted that this was common practice. It's also an open secret that this was done by political operatives as part of gerrymandering efforts.

https://desfontain.es/blog/banning-noise.html

Re: An American Privacy Emergency

#112
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not cursed. It is actively trying to cement its own power like the authoritarian fascists they are. And some of you still pretend if they just cheer enough for dear leader the tide will turn for them as well. As if this all was just a sports game where you have to cheer for your team even if they actively break the rules.

[flagged]

You're heavily downvoted, and while this admin is absolutely autocratic far beyond anything we've ever seen, and democracy is eroding rapidly: privacy has backslid under every administration.

Obama had nearly a decade to revert the patriot act, along with other nefarious shit introduced after 9/11 like PRISM, but did nothing to touch it.

America has been creeping towards a surveillance state for decades, regardless of the party in power.

Re: An American Privacy Emergency

#113
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not cursed. It is actively trying to cement its own power like the authoritarian fascists they are. And some of you still pretend if they just cheer enough for dear leader the tide will turn for them as well. As if this all was just a sports game where you have to cheer for your team even if they actively break the rules.

[flagged]

Sure the crank on the ratchet of fascism is bad, but have you thought about the pawl?

Yes the previous admins were also bad. Obama drone striked weddings, Biden continued immigrant detention policies.

This is why the actual Left denounce the Dem politicians for never fixing the damage done by previous admins. The Democratic party is widely considered controlled opposition by the forces who wish to push the country further right. They are controlled by donations, from the same corporations and individuals who wish to have an even more abusive free-market. Without deregulation and a steady stream of desperate underclass, they cannot continue to make good on the "profit increases forever" promise.

Re: An American Privacy Emergency

#114

One of my favorite recently learned facts about Congress: Federally mandated parental leave (paternity and maternity leave) polls at about 80% in favor with the US adult population. This is regardless of political affiliation, by the way. Democrat and Republican voters both support it. Upon reading this, you might be surprised as to why it's NOT federally mandated given how popular it is. One group it's NOT popular w…

> Federally mandated parental leave (paternity and maternity leave) polls at about 80% in favor with the US adult population. This is regardless of political affiliation, by the way. Democrat and Republican voters both support it. This sounds like the sort of thing where if you poll people yes/no, a majority of people support it, but then if you ask them whether they'll change their vote over it, the people who said…

Washington’s paid parental leave act has us put money into our Unemployment Insurance program in addition to the UI payments we already make. So the business owners don’t have to pay for it, they just have to allow it to happen.

Re: An American Privacy Emergency

#115

One of my favorite recently learned facts about Congress: Federally mandated parental leave (paternity and maternity leave) polls at about 80% in favor with the US adult population. This is regardless of political affiliation, by the way. Democrat and Republican voters both support it. Upon reading this, you might be surprised as to why it's NOT federally mandated given how popular it is. One group it's NOT popular w…

Free housing, free food, free health care, and free income are also wildly popular with the US adult population. The problem is that those things are not really "free" because somebody else needs to pay for them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority

I guess the rich people will have to cope with one less super-yacht this year.

Re: An American Privacy Emergency

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free housing, free food, free health care, and free income are also wildly popular with the US adult population. The problem is that those things are not really "free" because somebody else needs to pay for them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority

I guess the rich people will have to cope with one less super-yacht this year.

You’re welcome to give all your money away first, then worry about taking others.

Re: An American Privacy Emergency

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free housing, free food, free health care, and free income are also wildly popular with the US adult population. The problem is that those things are not really "free" because somebody else needs to pay for them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority

Better to spend money on helping our neighbors than going around the world murdering people

Does free housing help people? The state of “the projects” in every metro would say otherwise.

Does free food help people? Most Americans are already overweight, and far, far more die every year from diseases of excess consumption than hunger/malnutrition. Furthermore, when you give them food stamps, they try to sell and defraud the program to buy drugs or alcohol.

We already “help” these people to the tune of many billions of dollars a year - let’s ask they make some cultural changes before we dive even deeper into debt as a nation.

Re: An American Privacy Emergency

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free housing, free food, free health care, and free income are also wildly popular with the US adult population. The problem is that those things are not really "free" because somebody else needs to pay for them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority

Exactly. Giving people free stuff is extremely popular. If people actually want those things, we can collective open our wallets and pay for it. But that changes people's opinions quite radically.

The vote for “more free stuff” should only be open to the half of the population that actually pays taxes. Otherwise, the takers will inevitably vote to take more.

Re: An American Privacy Emergency

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the rich people will have to cope with one less super-yacht this year.

You’re welcome to give all your money away first, then worry about taking others.

You a temporarily embarrassed billionaire? Paying their fair share in taxes (corporate and otherwise) is far from "taking all their money away".

Re: An American Privacy Emergency

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better to spend money on helping our neighbors than going around the world murdering people

Does free housing help people? The state of “the projects” in every metro would say otherwise. Does free food help people? Most Americans are already overweight, and far, far more die every year from diseases of excess consumption than hunger/malnutrition. Furthermore, when you give them food stamps, they try to sell and defraud the program to buy drugs or alcohol. We already “help” these people to the tune of many b…

>Does free housing help people?

Studies say yes.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8513528/

Your vibes and general lack of empathy don't make you correct.

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