evacideJul 19, 2025
I spent a whole day in a room full of privacy engineers talking about how they were trying to move their companies towards better practices and then I glanced at my phone, read this, and just let the wave of rage and despair wash over me: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/07/amazon-ring-cashes-techno-authoritarianism-and-mass-surveillance
Amazon Ring Cashes in on Techno-Authoritarianism and Mass Surveillance

Ring founder Jamie Siminoff is back at the helm of the surveillance doorbell company, and with him is the surveillance-first-privacy-last approach that made Ring one of the most maligned tech devices. Not only is the company reintroducing new versions of old features which would allow police to...

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Show threadBob K Mertz Jul 19, 2025

@evacide
When I read (well, listened to) 1984 the absolute biggest thing that stood out to me was Mr Charrington saying to Winston that he "never had a use for such luxuries" in reference to the Telescreen. It really set a tone that I'm finding many didn't pick up on. The Telescreen in 1984 was a device that was sold to the public as a benefit to them that was later turned against them. No one was forced to buy one and yet everyone had one.

There is no better example for where we are now.

Show threadBob K Mertz 
@evacide
It's also worth mentioning that Mr Charrington's position in the party is even more on point today when you consider how closely techbros are working with.... Well.... The (Republican) party
Jul 19, 2025 at 7:21pmWeb