If you look at any historical movement of resistance against the powers that be, ever, the primary source of resistance power is embodied in networks of people bound by personal and cultural ties. By gaining detailed intelligence about these networks, governments can potentially place themselves into the position of the perfect oppressors. Online Social Networks are possibly the means by which rebelling AIs will enslave and exterminate the human race.
The advance of technology means that eventually the power available to individuals in the future comes to rival that of small nations today. Then, the only way to avoid calamity would be to use total surveillance to feed AIs that figure out who will become a terrorist before the terrorists themselves realize it. Skynet/The Forbin Project won't be build by the Department of Defense. It will be built by the NSA. And it won't machine gun us to death. It will manipulate culture and society such that Homo sapiens voluntarily stops reproducing and dies out.
How about the AIs pretend to implement brain-uploading of people into a virtual paradise, but it turns out to be a put-on to trick us all into shoving our heads voluntarily into nano disassemblers.
Living in an underdeveloped country like mine is fiddled with inconveniences, but at least the intelligence agencies are off our backs. The authorities' cybercrime awareness is abysmally low, and I remember seeing Serbia colored the "not-monitored-at-all" color on that Snowden-related surveillance map.
It is a little concerning to see things like this happen near me, but for now I am grateful for the lack of pressure on me personally. I would love if the pressure ended everywhere, though, but it seems like it will only escalate in the future.
As soon as they have the budget, they'll be watching you ;) For the meantime, dozens of foreign intelligence services are probably picking up the slack.
I'm interested in the reaction of the US public. Will they suddenly start to be concerned about total surveillance?
Reading German tech forums, I get the impression Germans are just as concerned about German surveillance as they are about US surveillance. It's very unpopular and seen as a waste of tax money. Biased sample, though.
Total information awareness is the first truly strategic capability since the development of nuclear weapons 70 years ago. Now it's an arms race. I'm appalled by mass surveillance, and with my limited knowledge of game theory, at this point I don't see any way we can put the shit back in the horse.
Total information awareness is the first truly strategic capability since the development of nuclear weapons 70 years ago.
Where the analogy falls down: It's probably 10X more effective to spy on your own people than to spy on a foreign power. This will result in a magnetic draw towards spying domestically and corruption. Perhaps a better analogy is the greater effectiveness of WWII bombing against civilian populations over industry and military installations, with the result that bombing ended up being aimed primarily against civilian living areas.
(Devil's advocate) The opposite is also true and might warrant such extreme actions. The internet is the most powerful weapon ever conceived in a terrorist's arsenal. It allows for instant and private communications with every person on the planet and unlimited knowledge can be shared, there is also the ability to actually gain direct access to some of the governments systems and they could impersonate, spy, leak, or even cause physical damage to the nation.
OTOH, if its just public social media data, its naive to think that this wouldn't have happened. If Coke can access social media in realtime through a service such as topsy, why not big brother?
The theoretical answer is that they are a government agency and therefore answerable to us. If we tell them not to drive down even numbered streets they supposedly are supposed to obey that. Of course, we've gone beyond the point where anyone thinks they answer to anybody.
[+] [-] stcredzero|11 years ago|reply
The advance of technology means that eventually the power available to individuals in the future comes to rival that of small nations today. Then, the only way to avoid calamity would be to use total surveillance to feed AIs that figure out who will become a terrorist before the terrorists themselves realize it. Skynet/The Forbin Project won't be build by the Department of Defense. It will be built by the NSA. And it won't machine gun us to death. It will manipulate culture and society such that Homo sapiens voluntarily stops reproducing and dies out.
How about the AIs pretend to implement brain-uploading of people into a virtual paradise, but it turns out to be a put-on to trick us all into shoving our heads voluntarily into nano disassemblers.
[+] [-] thegeomaster|11 years ago|reply
It is a little concerning to see things like this happen near me, but for now I am grateful for the lack of pressure on me personally. I would love if the pressure ended everywhere, though, but it seems like it will only escalate in the future.
[+] [-] purringmeow|11 years ago|reply
And how are you 100% sure that you aren't being watched by your ISP at least? :)
[+] [-] Paul12345534|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] na85|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tmalsburg2|11 years ago|reply
Reading German tech forums, I get the impression Germans are just as concerned about German surveillance as they are about US surveillance. It's very unpopular and seen as a waste of tax money. Biased sample, though.
[+] [-] crmd|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stcredzero|11 years ago|reply
Where the analogy falls down: It's probably 10X more effective to spy on your own people than to spy on a foreign power. This will result in a magnetic draw towards spying domestically and corruption. Perhaps a better analogy is the greater effectiveness of WWII bombing against civilian populations over industry and military installations, with the result that bombing ended up being aimed primarily against civilian living areas.
[+] [-] dm2|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spacemanmatt|11 years ago|reply
For now.
[+] [-] kuschku|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nemothekid|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] a3n|11 years ago|reply