logoalt Hacker News

stephbook • today at 5:45 PM • 1 reply • view on HN

I think the problem is twofold:

One, the move to digital lives made digital surveillance necessary. It wasn't enough to check attendance at the local mosque/far right rally. Then, the counter-move to encrypted communication meant law enforcement now had to rely on metadata.

Second: A wanton disregard of the treasure that is digital data. Most people just don't seem to care. LG is snooping on you? I bet they won't see even a 10% drop in sales next year. When the citizenry as consumer blasts their data everywhere, it's hard to argue as parliamentarian that those same people want it protected. Now people use Apple Watches and Amazon Alexa in their own bedrooms! People say they want their data safe guarded, but their actions suggest otherwise.

Replies

godelski • today at 6:43 PM

  > A wanton disregard of the treasure that is digital data. Most people just don't seem to care.
I think the problem is a bit more subtle. People do seem to care but feel powerless. In addition to that, complexity is high. When you tell people what is possible with massive data they label you as a conspiracy theorist because it's much easier to believe that Facebook is listening to you with a microphone than piecing that information together through thousands if individual pieces of data (especially when you're more likely to notice the hits rather than the misses). So now when they do record everything you say it feels like nothing changed.

It's exhaustion, it's impotence, it's desolate. But that's different than apathy. People care, they are just overwhelmed