Big Brother vs. Terror

[dead last]

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2013/12/08/indiana-state-police-tracking-cellphones-but-wont-say-how-or-why/3908333/

So how much farther will this monitoring trend go?

Is it something to worry about or is it not really a big deal (unless you're a TERRORIST)?

Can we do something to fight against it besides throwing out our cellphones and permanently ostracizing ourselves from society?!

[Wild]

So how much farther will this monitoring trend go?

Until the state is able to track you and your communication 24/7. Eventually the technology will be there to read your thoughts as well.

Is it something to worry about or is it not really a big deal (unless you're a TERRORIST)?

It's up to you whether you care. What I would like to point out is that the definition of the "terrorist" is fluid and the day is fast approaching when people with views like ours will be guilty of thoughtcrime.

Can we do something to fight against it besides throwing out our cellphones and permanently ostracizing ourselves from society?!

Individually? I would expect there to be a growing black market of jammers for this type of technology going forward.

Ostracization is probably the most certain solution.

[dead last]

That is what I thought except for one thing; the black market jamming technology.

Such technology may be available for a while, but I would think that as monitoring increased, the availability of parts and facilities to manufacture and distribute jammers would be cut off.

I can see underground groups communicating quite effectively with ink and paper, or even spoken messages. In Frank Herbert's Dune series, people were specifically trained to memorize messages subconsciously; in other words, they would not be able to remember "at will" the message that they were carrying. In order to relay the message, they needed some sort of psychic stimulation, like a key word from a certain voice. Once activated, they would speak the message and then immediately forget what they had said (thanks to hypnosis).

I could even imagine messaging techniques being developed. I put a lot of faith in humans to navigate their way out from under crushing totalitarian rule. Ninja philosophy has always been a huge inspiration for me. The survivors will be the ultimate pragmatists.

[Wild]

We pass under surveillance cameras every day, appearing on perhaps hundreds of minutes of film. We rarely notice them. London-based artist James Bridle would like to remind us.

Bridle has created a wearable device he calls the “surveillance spaulder.” Inspired by the original spaulder—a piece of medieval plate armor that protected “the wearer from unexpected and unseen blows from above”—the surveillance spaulder alerts the wearer to similarly unseen, if electronic, attacks. Whenever its sensor detects the the type of infrared lighting commonly used with surveillance cameras, it sends an electric signal to two “transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation” pads, which causes the wearer to twitch.

http://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2013/12/new-armor-lets-you-sense-surveillance-cameras/75514/?oref=ng-HPriver

[crow]

Hmmm. Maybe there's a market for a vibrator that sends the user into a sexual frenzy every time they get surveilled?

[Wild]

You just made some reader of Metal Hall a future millionaire.

[scourge]

overpopulation -> revolution -> liberalism -> equality -> diversity -> atomization -> terror -> surveillance -> authoritarian -> depopulation

[dead last]

Point proven; rights don't exist. Whoever has more weaponry and manpower decides the rules.

http://youtu.be/w-WMn_zHCVo

[scourge]

Libertarians usually point to whoever can monopolize the means to apply force as the great decider of the moment. That's often considered a great ethical problem should this or that great decider turn malevolent as history has shown a couple of times. Thus, as they say, with an unwitting nod toward Herr Engels and Marx, equally distribute the means of applying force, typically citing the U.S. Constitution's provision for bearing arms.

It is interesting how bad logic causes everything to break down except for the advancement of life forms. Might makes right combined with adaptation and reproductive selection is after all us.

[dead last]

I have picked up on that issue since I have a few libertarion-minded people that I talk to. I am more of the adversarial mindset, for better or worse. Ethics aside, might does indeed make right, so if you want out from beneath the control of oppressors, you fight them with superior force, and dominate them until they are beneath your control. That seems to be the only true path toward whatever liberty one desires.

[scourge]

There are components to this intrusiveness stuff that are a bit sensitive and not broadly released publicly. Thus, we have a lot of regular folks freaking out, all because of their own lack of information.

Money laundering is a massive persistent concern but it isn't a nightly news feature. Steps are taken to track the activity and when some innocent citizen runs into a "checkpoint" it can be confusing and frustrating for them. It can create public paranoia if people aren't educated on why they can't purchase eight thousand dollar debit cards all at once or whatever.

Yet, the information blackout about the various tentacles of organized crime and terror persists as it probably should. So, the liberty paranoia is gently tolerated to a fair extent. Educating the public broadly would end up as practically a training and recruitment program for illicit alternatives to going to school and getting a job like a good citizen.