113
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I sometimes wonder what the outcome would be if instead of protecting privacy, we switched to nullifying the asymmetry of surveillance.

I'm not advocating for this: I know this idea is radical and unpopular and likely very dangerous. But if a majority of us concluded that we'd reached a point where protecting our individual privacy was no longer possible, what would it look like if we accepted a panopticon society, but through law and hacking, forced the information to be universally available to all?

What if my movements and political attitudes and sexual preferences were tracked by the government, but rather than being known exclusively to the state, this was public information, as were the identities of every member of law enforcement and their locations, associations, and thoughts too.

Would it level the playing field? Would it break the state's love of surveillance if the tools couldn't be contained for their use? I rather hope we don't reach the point where we need to test this.

this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2026
113 points (97.5% liked)

Technology

88037 readers
3726 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS