not really no. Compare to how many humans use the web or are simply connect to the internet, now that's impressive.
But knowing that many humans use the internet as a transport to a walled garden aware of their IRL identity and holding captive a heap of their personal data, this is frightening.
Well, based on inspection of content, maybe. But we're not talking about mere words as an expression thought.
The simple fact is that within U.S. borders alone, there are maybe 300 million animals, each weighing in at probably 150 lbs (75kg) or more. They drive cars visible from space. They flip light switches on and off wherever they go. They clock in at work. They clock out. They walk in front of cameras, and there are cameras dotting every place of business, and in homes and outdoors. They plug things in and then unplug them. They power on machinery. They use credit card terminals. They visit ATMs. They buy things in cash, with serial numbered currency, which passes through more optical scanners than you might guess. And almost everyone speaks English, exclusively.
And then there are the mobile devices, the uniquely identifiable radio beacons we've, almost all of us, have volunteered to be tagged with.
So, VPNs, and proxies, and TOR, as much as they do, are only going to go so far.
I agree. However, people feel comfortable because they are online with billions of other people. They feel less threatened because their information is hidden within the info of the other billion people using the internet.
Objectively, perhaps not. (I suppose I remember the early days of the Internet when it wasn't that popular.) My gist is that our implicit trust in the system/infrastructure we rely on is undermined by this sort of revelation. And yet, as a whole, we de facto continue to trust in opaque entities that provide valuable yet likely compromised services because it is convenient.
Honestly it could also be it's just hard to fathom the breadth and scale. Easier to imagine someone opening your mail or tapping your phone or otherwise physically interacting with things you own over the government intercepting a request to post a picture to facebook, for instance.
I think a fair number of people intuitively understand just how massive the internet is and it's hard to conceptualize someone or something sifting through the sand to find your few little grains.
The Internet has made the potential power of a small number of irresponsible individuals much higher than it ever has been. Previously, only terrorists had such a high awareness/number ratio.
No, it's just a case of facing reality. The internet is built by other people and we have to trust (or not) that they are going to honor the responsibility that entails, from security to ethics. The internet is also funded by learning as much as possible about users in general so using the internet is accepting that you will be tracked. Increasing personal security is good, but no silver bullet.
Is anyone surprised at this? The internet is a single point which governs the majority of information and communication for the people now. Someone who is in power can potentially eliminate threats and increase their own power/wealth. I would be more surprised to find the opposite -- that the powerful had privately written a memo telling others that privacy matters more than their own power/wealth/safety.
Its like all the "shocking" revelations on the corruption of elections using voting machines -- hardly surprising given that the manipulation guarantees "legitimate" power from the people, the cost is fairly low relative to payoff, and the effect is largely untraceable.
The Web has gotten so much worse since we started putting serious stuff on it. It's kind of a population-terrorizing monster, at this point.
Could we, like... not do that? I seem to remember the world turning just fine when you couldn't push the right sequence of buttons and steal the personal data of half a country's citizens from the comfort of your home.
No. It's almost unexploitable in the real world. An insanely stupid overreaction that we're all being forced to pay for. Security theatre for the post-Web 2.0 age.
By analogy, there’s some loose link to be made between this and the Dark Forest Hypothesis.
Given that the internet is filled with explicitly predatory algorithms and deceptive ‘dark patterns’ both trying to attract attention, thereby extract personal data or cash from humans, letting them know you are a human is merely to invite attack.
There may be advanced civilisations hidden online, but we are not them.
The headline makes it sound like the fears are the problem, as if they're unfounded. But the fears are legitimate; it's the actual surveillance that threatens to break the internet.
Wonderfully put. I would add that we need to see things for their scale and proportion. Yes, the simple walled web is bigger than ever. So is the hacker community, and this website (so far as I can tell), Reddit (for all its faults), etc.
for those of us who are digital natives, even if we spend great effort in covering our tracks, they likely know more about us than we know about ourselves.
they use this information to employ a system of psychological levers which results in us willingly handing their proxies our money.
is it a good business practice. certainly. is it simple theft? my instinct is to say no, and instead ask:
is this new mastery of knowledge about peoples behaviors and the ability to affect other behaviors on a mass scale the most terrifying form of feudalism that mankind has known?
I don't think It is only extremest per se. I think the biggest threats to humanity is obvious humanity itself. And these people used to be very minority and doesn't course us any threats, or rather their damage are within controllable limits. With the help of Internet, and later Smartphones, which by extensions brings Internet to everyone, they become a force that could course trouble beyond our worst imagination.
Note: That is not to say I am for Internet regulation.
I've seen some pretty stupid analogies in my time, but the idea that logging onto a web service other people use to broadcast stuff they want to broadcast to the world is "violating their personal space" in a manner akin to covering their lawn in trash is going to take some beating.
But knowing that many humans use the internet as a transport to a walled garden aware of their IRL identity and holding captive a heap of their personal data, this is frightening.
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