I’m Terrified of My New TV

Any popular internet connected always-on voice recognition device is going to be taken advantage of by future overly-ambitious intelligence gathering initiatives, period. It really doesn't matter substantively whether they upload the data to be processed in the cloud or not - typical home networks (see: Belkin routers) are not exactly fort knox.

If you haven't seen Laura Poitras' profile of William Binney recently, watch it again: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/the-national-secur... When this came out (pre Snowden), many techies pooh-poohed the suggestion that phones could be turned into remote microphones. In hindsight everything he says has either been verified or is quite plausible.

So why make it easier for a future big brother by building (let alone buying) internet devices with voice recognition? While they may be cool at a technology level, given the current political path we're building the infrastructure for a future dystopian society.

Or, the rest of the cartel can launch a denigration campaign against the defector, or poach the defector's employees, or other shady means that money can buy, even in a "free society". And of course, I wouldn't rule out outright criminal behaviour. I recall being told about a board meeting where they discussed triggering an "accident" to get rid of polluting chemicals, because it was cheaper than abiding to the countries safety laws. Totally illegal, very expensive if they get caught (both for the company and the board submerse themselves), but still within the bounds of a cynical cost/benefit analysis.

Cartels are a difficult thing to break. The light bulb cartel for instance still exist, even though it has officially been dissolved: light bulbs still only last a couple thousand hours, despite the existence of designs that can last 10 times longer. (Heck, that's one of the few things the centrally planned economy of the USSR got right: long lived light bulbs.)

Strength lies in numbers. Fascists knew that, popular movement know that, and cartels know that. Betraying the cartel is to fin yourself alone. The financial incentive may not overcome the need to be part of the same team. And sometimes, as is the case in the light bulb industry, it is not clear that you could actually take away the cartel's customers: light bulbs are fairly cheap, at face value. It's the planned obsolescence that's the real cost, and that cost is not disclosed to the customer.

You can only make your purchase decisions based on what you know. If the cartel is based on deceit, rather than on price regulation, it can be difficult to convince people based on durability concerns. People don't care about sustainability, because of hyperbolic discounting. (Why do you think we're trashing on the planet with little regard for future generations? It's not because of our rulers. It's because we just don't care about the future as much as we should.)

> We can't leave it up to ignorant and fickle consumers.

People like you infuriate me to no end. The fact is that a lot of consumers are willing to trade privacy for convenience, price, etc. Privacy just doesn't weigh much in those people's list of priorities. I'm glad we still have a semblance of free market capitalism because if people like you had their way, a lot of modern technologies simply wouldn't exist. That being said, I personally won't be getting that TV.

It's important to remember that these privacy violations are not only building a profile of each and everyone of us.

/rant mode on It's likely that it's all about controlling us, and using our profiles to adjust not only our spending habits but also our lives. Just imagine how companies like Google, who have almost unlimited access to our data could show you progressively more left or right-leaning websites in response to your queries. Your Netflix, Amazon, Youtube suggestions are keeping you in a bubble of thinks and ideas you already know and like. And if you always go with these suggestions it will be extremely easy to adjust them slightly every time to push you in a direction that corporations and governments prefer.

We know that the filter bubble already exists, but do they adjust that bubble to their needs? If you're quick to say that this is unlikely, just think about advertisement. Isn't making us want to buy or do something main goal of advertisement?

Of course I don't think that there is some kind of conspiracy to convert everyone to be a tree-hugging left-wing fanatic, but if we have corporations with as much power over our lives as Google, Facebook or Apple it will be easy for them to slightly push us in a direction that benefits their bottom lines. Any company that has power to control our reading and viewing habits has in fact control over us. Now when they know more about our health and location, when they can automatically listen to and analyze everything we say what else is left?

Yes, privacy outside of our homes is gone forever. We will never be able to get it back under control. But what we do, read, watch and listen to, what we talk about in our homes should stay private.

So next time you think that the conveniences of having a website or a movie suggested to you, think if that suggestion is not making you an obedient, gadget buying drone.

So if the invisible hand of the market "chooses" to create an Orwellian total surveillance society, that will be OK, because hey, consumers chose it.