progression of technologies (almost a satire)

[hellekin]

On 06/25/2015 12:26 AM, dan at geer.org wrote:
> Paraphrasing Bonnie Raitt, let's give 'em something germane
> to argue about.  In particular, what do I have wrong here:
> 
> http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/Passcode-Voices/2015/0617/Opinion-The-reasonable-expectation-fallacy
> 
> --dan
> 
*** Thank you for this interesting opinion.  I can't see anything wrong
at first sight, objectively.  Nevertheless, when I read "There is no
mechanistic difference whatsoever between personalization and targeting
save for the intent of the analyst.",  I'm tempted to drop a bit of
sleeping time to respond and propose a "quantum difference".

Surely Law can't prevent physics, and unless all buildings are coated
against radiation or jammed with noise, both unlikely outcomes, our
privacy is stuck with Murphy's Law and the goodwill of people thinking
that if it can be done, it will be done.  There's no defense against it,
except, as you say: sabotage, and not being correlated (though luck with
that in cosmopolitan space, where acquired targets glow like Christmas
trees wrapped in gilded RFID garlands).

The "quantum difference" between personalization (serving the user) and
otherwise (sucking it dry) resides in ethics: one is helpful and
considerate; livingry vs. killingry.  What can be done is not
necessarily to be done--and the fact no H-bomb has been detonated for a
while demonstrates technology can be tamed by human will, if only by a
safe bit.  Actually that seems to be the only path left, as technology
is being imposed on a global scale without restraint, like free trade or
private property before it.

It may sound like trying to keep the rain from falling with one's bare
hands, but frankly, what else is there to do than revolt what's left of
the human mind against the tyranny of paranoid integral control?
Nietzsche declared God dead, and here we are mechanizing Its
omni-science in search of omni-impotence, and soon we'll be declaring
humans dead as well, obsolete, parasiting the good working of the machine.

But once the mechanistic reduction of a helpful activity into a dreadful
one is identified, it's easy to rewind one sentence, and stumble upon a
very troublesome term: "data acquisition".  So you want to turn those
who acquire data into biohazard liabilities?  Would whistleblowers,
journalists, and scientists count among them, or just greedy
corporations and morbidly obese intelligence agencies and
military-industrial crackpots?

Obviously we're way past trying to limit our technical capacity to
damage ourselves: only radical change in human behavior can achieve
that.  An alien invasion?  The second coming of the messiah?  Otherwise,
well, sabotage seems to remain a valid joker: making it so that "unique
signatures" can be shared to disrupt sensors everywhere and confuse data
analysis.  We are all J. Doe.

Still there's another issue at work with pervasive surveillance, that is
more of a concern, and that some clever sabotage expert could play
against public figures, as exemplified in the notorious (misattributed?)
quote of Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis Duc de Richelieu, Pair de
France, CIO of Louis XIII Le Juste: Give me six lines written by the
most honest man, and I will find something there to hang him.  What
about: irrefutable biometric evidence recollected over the past week
links [target] to the mysterious murder of [past target].

No government would be stupid enough* to target all their citizens in
general (unless given sufficient firepower).  But sweeping at the
margins, one gait-profiled parasite at a time, has proven to be an
efficient defense of the abominations perpetrated by the State
throughout history.  Such power given to supra-State actors like
corporations, or organized crime (be it terrorist, an intelligence
agency, or both) is a very amusing perspective to the Cynic within.

In conclusion, as a final tongue-in-cheek comment: if we can't stop
progress, we can at least try and make it worse.

Regards,

==
hk

* Except the USA, Russia, UK, France, China, Cisco, Facebook, Google, etc.

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