“The UK government says its’ Online Safety Act will protect people, particularly children, on the internet by demanding EVERY message YOU send by ANY chat program is SCANNED for inappropriate content.”
Anything can be spun as being for our safety. This includes AI surveillance of our communication.
“The UK government did admit they don’t know how they are going to create a system that does this” They don’t need to. The government just develops their requirements/ algorithm and gets the platform providers to do their ‘dirty work’ for them.
Google has AI searching through people’s Gmail, cloud storage, photo albums, etc looking for evidence of a specific crime – child exploitation. While this ostensibly sounds noble and good, it is still Google looking through what people think is private. It also begs the question as to how this search will broaden. Will it include other illegal activities? While William is correct in postulating “misinformation”. However, it goes deeper. What if the microphone on your Android / Apple phone is recording what you say and analyzing this. (Amazon Alexa already does this.) What if you say something that is construed by the device’s platform AI as illegal and/or misinformation?
To summarize – baby has genital rash, parent sends a pic of this to pediatrician, pediatrician diagnoses and prescribes anti-biotic. It should end here. It doesn’t because Google AI flags this image as child pornography and shuts down the parent’s Google services thereby locking him out of his digital assets and digital identity.
When there is a government/private-enterprise joint-venture, there is latitude to obfuscate who exactly has authority and who has accountability. Governments can effectively bypass their need for a search warrant by having the private-enterprise platforms put into their end-user agreements that the platforms will provide user data to governments based on per-determined conditions (that you just know will be vague).
“The folks having the conversations as above, have a false sense of privacy and are addicted to the convenience of the modern digital lifestyle.” There is an inverse relationship between privacy and convenience. Everything one does to increase one’s privacy creates inconvenience. The most secure way to send a message to someone is to print it on paper, put in a sealed envelope, stamp it, put the recipients snail-mail address on the outside but not your return address.
“It is already horrible that every time you turn on your mobile phone its’ location is recorded.” Even if you turn off your location setting on your phone device, your cel phone service provider knows your location. I normally have my mobile phone turned off in a farday bag. My main “mobile device” is a small-screened laptop running Linux (which I bought used for cash. Thus, no connection to my real identity). This laptop access a VOIP phone service (which I took out in a fake name and paid for it with a prepaid VISA card, in a fake name). My cel phone service is a pay-as-you-go pre-paid service (which I took out in yet another fake name and paid cash.) I just use this service for the data to run my VOIP phone. At home, I run my VOIP from my VPN’d desktop. My cel phone has never been turned on anywhere near my house. This was incredibly inconvenient to set-up. The pay-back for me is that my movements are untraceable by technology.
Another well written, thought provoking article William, awesome job!
I couldn't agree with Joe more. We absolutely cannot trust Big Tech, Big Brother or Big Pharma, full stop! Privacy is our right and it is time to take matters into our own hands!
Thanks Ken. My issue is deep down I want to trust tech, pharma and gov as they do great things. Life saving technology, build highways, etc. They just need to understand they also don't need to be my parent and know everything I do every second of the day or mandate advancements I don't need. I wonder if a tipping point is coming?
"Imagine, in the near future, having a conversation then you get notified that your conversation does not align with the current parasitic mind virus, and you have been reported. I think I would loose it. Seriously."
Within the pages of my Substack, I rant quite a bit. If I were legally required to post my name, the Substack would be clinical and dry. I'd refrain from personal feelings...
Privacy affords me space to be more of an individual. I haven't written anything I'd not want associated with my professional name, however, there is some separation, and as a result, I can write how I FEEL and THINK, not just how we're supposed to as professionals.
“The UK government says its’ Online Safety Act will protect people, particularly children, on the internet by demanding EVERY message YOU send by ANY chat program is SCANNED for inappropriate content.”
Anything can be spun as being for our safety. This includes AI surveillance of our communication.
“The UK government did admit they don’t know how they are going to create a system that does this” They don’t need to. The government just develops their requirements/ algorithm and gets the platform providers to do their ‘dirty work’ for them.
Google has AI searching through people’s Gmail, cloud storage, photo albums, etc looking for evidence of a specific crime – child exploitation. While this ostensibly sounds noble and good, it is still Google looking through what people think is private. It also begs the question as to how this search will broaden. Will it include other illegal activities? While William is correct in postulating “misinformation”. However, it goes deeper. What if the microphone on your Android / Apple phone is recording what you say and analyzing this. (Amazon Alexa already does this.) What if you say something that is construed by the device’s platform AI as illegal and/or misinformation?
Here is a great example of this
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/technology/google-surveillance-toddler-photo.html
To summarize – baby has genital rash, parent sends a pic of this to pediatrician, pediatrician diagnoses and prescribes anti-biotic. It should end here. It doesn’t because Google AI flags this image as child pornography and shuts down the parent’s Google services thereby locking him out of his digital assets and digital identity.
When there is a government/private-enterprise joint-venture, there is latitude to obfuscate who exactly has authority and who has accountability. Governments can effectively bypass their need for a search warrant by having the private-enterprise platforms put into their end-user agreements that the platforms will provide user data to governments based on per-determined conditions (that you just know will be vague).
“The folks having the conversations as above, have a false sense of privacy and are addicted to the convenience of the modern digital lifestyle.” There is an inverse relationship between privacy and convenience. Everything one does to increase one’s privacy creates inconvenience. The most secure way to send a message to someone is to print it on paper, put in a sealed envelope, stamp it, put the recipients snail-mail address on the outside but not your return address.
“It is already horrible that every time you turn on your mobile phone its’ location is recorded.” Even if you turn off your location setting on your phone device, your cel phone service provider knows your location. I normally have my mobile phone turned off in a farday bag. My main “mobile device” is a small-screened laptop running Linux (which I bought used for cash. Thus, no connection to my real identity). This laptop access a VOIP phone service (which I took out in a fake name and paid for it with a prepaid VISA card, in a fake name). My cel phone service is a pay-as-you-go pre-paid service (which I took out in yet another fake name and paid cash.) I just use this service for the data to run my VOIP phone. At home, I run my VOIP from my VPN’d desktop. My cel phone has never been turned on anywhere near my house. This was incredibly inconvenient to set-up. The pay-back for me is that my movements are untraceable by technology.
Another well written, thought provoking article William, awesome job!
I couldn't agree with Joe more. We absolutely cannot trust Big Tech, Big Brother or Big Pharma, full stop! Privacy is our right and it is time to take matters into our own hands!
Great read!
Thanks Ken. My issue is deep down I want to trust tech, pharma and gov as they do great things. Life saving technology, build highways, etc. They just need to understand they also don't need to be my parent and know everything I do every second of the day or mandate advancements I don't need. I wonder if a tipping point is coming?
I hope for both our sakes that it is coming!
We cannot trust our Government & big Tech with our privacy. Full Stop. We must make this a personal priority. NOW! Thank you for this article.
"Imagine, in the near future, having a conversation then you get notified that your conversation does not align with the current parasitic mind virus, and you have been reported. I think I would loose it. Seriously."
Within the pages of my Substack, I rant quite a bit. If I were legally required to post my name, the Substack would be clinical and dry. I'd refrain from personal feelings...
Privacy affords me space to be more of an individual. I haven't written anything I'd not want associated with my professional name, however, there is some separation, and as a result, I can write how I FEEL and THINK, not just how we're supposed to as professionals.