If you aren’t doing anything wrong, you’ve got nothing to hide.

The Russian collusion hoax!

What about tor

Makes it easier for the establishment to control the outcome.

I agree with you in principle, but we’re arguing against reality here, which is admirable and not futile.

Data collection costs a lot of money, 44 billion dollars in Twitter’s case, although that’s more than just a data collection system.

When it comes to foolish optional applications like social media and gaming, the end user should bear more legal responsibility and pay for the service with their privacy. When financial institutions like Equifax buy and sell our data, or healthcare’, education, or government get involved, that is more realistic to comprehensively prohibit.

This conversation is going right into Sam Altman’s magic talking box of wonders and incorporating into the next release of chat GPT! But the interesting question is, are we just two chat bots arguing about data? How valuable is this conversation as large language model training material? Is the AI getting high on its own supply?

Yeah, but what can you do, make everyone fill out a form and mail it in before downloading an app? The public doesn’t care about its information, and that won’t change soon. Big data is low quality and still sends the wrong signal as often as not. Interpreting data is an art and skilled analysts are expensive. The data is worthless by itself. Legislation is not viable due to regulatory capture.

Statistical analysis gives us a pretty powerful understanding of identity through the veil. Intelligence agencies and corporations can identify anonymous users based on very short writing samples and analyzing the language. If they need to identify someone, they can and will. Computers were invented in WWII to spy on the nazis. The more I learn, the more I’m convinced nothing is private or anonymous, and anything that is only entrenches the power of the ruling class or facilitates petty criminal activity. What do you think about the reality of privacy and anonymity? Do you believe in it?

The past is the past, I have to believe we can learn from our mistakes and develop a smarter system, probably integrating AI to regain control of the public narrative, totally eliminate misinfo, and foster a more cohesive society. I suspect a lot of our division stems from the easy pseudo anonymity afforded by the net today. Don’t you think extremism would evaporate if we had to communicate with our real identities?

Deplatforming is not a stable long-term solution. It’s already a game of whack-a-mole. Cut one head off the hydra, two grow back. And the platforms themselves evolve or get bought by the next zillionaire. We need a more grass roots level of accountability, and that starts with authentication verification. Unique device identifiers are a big step in the right direction. And law enforcement has to follow the law. Just make it illegal for police to use the secure databases. Only federal agencies like CISA and the FBI/DoJ can access.

We need to target the hate problem at the root. Hateful speech comes from a hateful heart. How can we heal a heart problem if we can’t even ID the patient?

And on the topic of healthcare how do we accomplish contact tracing without complete records? Do you want to risk bumping into unvaccinated RFK?

The right wing has built its own network called Rumble where they spread disinformation to their uneducated superstitious masses. These brainwashed zombies thrive behind a mask of anonymity. IRL these absolute loons are interspersed throughout the public, and our institutions are none the wiser. ID verification is needed to increase visibility and accountability.

Using freeware usually implies legal consent, which is explicit in ToS, if you read it.

Anonymity also emboldens hate speech, arguably an even bigger and more immediate threat. When hate is allowed to fester in the dark, it casts shadows into the light.

Haha understood. Beware Team America: World Police anyways!

It comes down to a balance between cost and social benefit.

Uh, I can’t find you, but be aware that law enforcement probably can if they have a reason, unless your opsec really is airtight!

What about neo nazis and white supremacists who use privacy tools to coordinate domestic terrorism like Charlottesville and January 6th? There’s two sides to the privacy coin.

How will they make Star Wars bland and disappointing?