this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025
109 points (100.0% liked)
technology
23858 readers
381 users here now
On the road to fully automated luxury gay space communism.
Spreading Linux propaganda since 2020
- Ways to run Microsoft/Adobe and more on Linux
- The Ultimate FOSS Guide For Android
- Great libre software on Windows
- Hey you, the lib still using Chrome. Read this post!
Rules:
- 1. Obviously abide by the sitewide code of conduct. Bigotry will be met with an immediate ban
- 2. This community is about technology. Offtopic is permitted as long as it is kept in the comment sections
- 3. Although this is not /c/libre, FOSS related posting is tolerated, and even welcome in the case of effort posts
- 4. We believe technology should be liberating. As such, avoid promoting proprietary and/or bourgeois technology
- 5. Explanatory posts to correct the potential mistakes a comrade made in a post of their own are allowed, as long as they remain respectful
- 6. No crypto (Bitcoin, NFT, etc.) speculation, unless it is purely informative and not too cringe
- 7. Absolutely no tech bro shit. If you have a good opinion of Silicon Valley billionaires please manifest yourself so we can ban you.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
my Chinese national friend had her phone stolen in a Tier 1 city and the police consulted the CCTV footage, called the person who took it and told them to bring it in to the police station. she got it back. what's important is the class character of the state
eh, the surveillance state isn't good even if it does have proletarian class character. they'll make mistakes, or have bigots in the police, or over-react to drugs*, get hacked by foreign actors, or a thousand other ways merely having the tool around could go wrong.
*yes i understand the historical basis, no it doesn't make sense anymore.
this feels like the "human nature" argument to me. the problems of mistakes and bad actors would seem to be good process and auditing not abandoning the technology entirely. if oversight of state power is impossible then let's just give up
In my view, if a person lacks a fundamental right to privacy, it will effect their behavior and increase anxiety even if no direct harm comes from it. If you are doing work, and someone is staring intensely at the work you're doing, wouldn't that make you uncomfortable? That's how I feel being tracked and monitored by the surveillance state, I feel uncomfortable and anxious, afraid to step out of line.
I agree if the state was held by the people it wouldn't generate such a feeling as much, but I don't know if the benefit from widespread surveillance justifies the risk of reactionaries or hostile governments using the panopticon for their benefit. CCTV in public areas like what allowed the person's phone to be recovered doesn't have to lead to a full surveillance state though, but it would be tough to track the suspect without other measures like device or face tracking.
i don't think it is at all. my argument isn't that having the power will corrupt the user, it's based on several current material imperfections.
how did that conversation go, i wonder. like, "we saw you took it, give it back" or "hey, we saw you {wink} found the phone, bring it over and there's no harm done" kind or thing.