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Countries are competing to see which can carry out mass surveillance the best

mullvad.net

81–90 of 137 posts

Re: Countries are competing to see which can carry out mass surveillance the best

#81

- does anyone have actual proof that surveillance does not effectively curb terrorism or something along those lines? - i keep seeing the same arguments everywhere "ThEy WaNt To CoNtRoL Us" etc - how do you propose catching terrorists then?

This is a classic logical error. It is not the job of the citizenry to prove that surveillance doesn't curb terrorism in order to preserve privacy. It is the job of the government to prove that surveillance DOES curb terrorism to such a degree that privacy MUST be degraded. Only then we can have a conversation.

but has there ever been a study conducted like say on arxiv or something that tells you what or what is not achieved by surveillance?

Re: Countries are competing to see which can carry out mass surveillance the best

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how do you propose catching terrorists then how did police ever do anything over the past hundreds of years?

the terrorists are using signal messenger, in game chat messages and all sorts of sophisticated tooling, they are literally getting trained by it. how do you propose beating someone tech savy without using tech?

>how do you propose beating someone tech savy without using tech?

no one said "without using tech".

Re: Countries are competing to see which can carry out mass surveillance the best

#83
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not supported by the polling. >From everything you have seen and heard, do you support or oppose the recent rules requiring age verification to access websites that may contain pornographic material?* >80% support https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/52693-how-have-britons-rea... >The Essential poll found majority support for a range reforms to improve online safety including: [...] enforcing age verifications fo…

Are you quoting the same polls that simply didn't offer respondents any way to say "I'm against all of it"? Dishonest polls do not demonstrate popular support. https://consumerrights.wiki/w/User:Louis/Manufacturing_suppo...

>Are you quoting the same polls that simply didn't offer respondents any way to say "I'm against all of it"?

https://essentialreport.com.au/reports/07-may-2024

Re: Countries are competing to see which can carry out mass surveillance the best

#84
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Support is not the same thing as demand.

That just seems like a cheap way to wriggle out of any inconvenient poll numbers. Most people support access to abortion? Well how many people actually demand it? Most people support medicare for all? Well how many people actually demand it?

[dead]

Re: Countries are competing to see which can carry out mass surveillance the best

#85

If you're not fabricating your own silicon, you are OWNED.

Lock in, that's not true. https://xcancel.com/GrapheneOS/search?f=tweets&q=Backdoor&si...

long video, but... https://youtu.be/jmTwlEh8L7g

the presenter now works at intel.

Re: Countries are competing to see which can carry out mass surveillance the best

#86
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just talk to an average person rather than a tech nerd.

I don't think asking the average person whether they would consent to constantly have their face scanned to access the Internet would yield the result you believe it would, no matter the excuse. "parents" are not do-I-look-like-I-know-what-a-jay-peg-is boomers you and others who make this claim believe them to be. the people who are having children now grew up with iPhones. to them, the Internet is not that newfangle…

"Won't somebody think of the children" is as old as time and works. That's why it's used so often. If it were ineffective at convincing people to give up their rights, it wouldn't be a thing.

Re: Countries are competing to see which can carry out mass surveillance the best

#87
post #7
post #4

Mass surveillance is bad, until I'm in charge of it. -- Parents demanding "age verification" laws

It's not parents demanding 'age verification' laws.

You sure about that? The average person couldn't care less about privacy and would gladly hand over a significant amount of data to whatever company asks. The sentiment on hacker news isn't the norm.

Re: Countries are competing to see which can carry out mass surveillance the best

#88

- does anyone have actual proof that surveillance does not effectively curb terrorism or something along those lines? - i keep seeing the same arguments everywhere "ThEy WaNt To CoNtRoL Us" etc - how do you propose catching terrorists then?

I really can't believe there are people that still think this is about terrorism in 2026, at least not on HN

Re: Countries are competing to see which can carry out mass surveillance the best

#89

reddit started asking KYC yesterday. You (and me) can bitch all you want, but reddit has well prepared for us whining and being sad will change nothing. Mark my words: KYC will be required on HN in about two years. Not because dang will want it, but because that's the direction the world is going to.

> will be required on HN in about

We moved here because it was the best place available: we'd move elsewhere in case this place will not be available.

Re: Countries are competing to see which can carry out mass surveillance the best

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe dang doesn't want it, but his boss definitely wants it. Garry Tan, president & CEO of YC, on Flock support: "You're thinking Chinese surveillance US-based surveillance helps victims and prevents more victims" [1] The tech/VC people want it, because that's where the money will be. [1] https://x.com/garrytan/status/1963310592615485955

"Anthropic to require age verification via Persona" [1] Oh Persona is also used on Reddit [2]. Persona. A YC backed company. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48628264 [2] https://help.withpersona.com/articles/7F6BaF9h8Fxf0XWkwQscXN...

A Vibes backed company too, it seems.[1]

[1] https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/02/age-verificat...

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