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0 pointscodegladiator5y ago0 comments

Is there a possibility that we (us at hn, pro-privacy) are all just paranoid and the worst case scenarios we can imagine are never really going to happen ?

I am a heavy advocate of privacy and the main driving factor for these conversations in my friend/family circle. Trying to get people to a different platform since 2 years now (they did and came back), so now I wonder if I am just wasting time really for a apocalypse that was never going to happen.

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bitcharmer5y ago

The worst case scenario has been happening for years. Didn't Snowden teach us about how these platforms are a gold mine for shady government agencies and oppressive regimes?

rusk5y ago

And let’s not forget organised crime. It’s not beyond reason that some of the larger organisations could get their fingers into this.

I think in Europe we are more aware of these issues because shady organisations in the past have been able to get their hands on government files and use them for nefarious purposes.

blackbrokkoli5y ago

I mean the advent of business computing was very literally the systematic eradication of 6 million Jews.

IBM's custom designed punch cards and the absolute openness of census records (church books are rarely encrypted) was the only reason the third Reich was ever able to census all European Jews and then systematically deport them in any reasonable time frame.

That is obviously very different from new WhatsApp TOS, but this incredibly prevalent opinion of "Well, nothing really bad regarding privacy and tech did actually happen, right?" irks me a lot.

jjcon5y ago

I’m pretty fricken sure they would have worked around not having that specific punch card tech - it’s like saying 9/11 wouldn’t have happened if Linux didn’t exist because the taliban used Linux systems

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