patrick.net

It’s difficult to comprehend that there would be anything else more important right now than public health and the COVID-19 pandemic, but in the midst of it all, there is a very dangerous precedent being set in the world of tech that will have a lasting impact on our lives. ...

The scariest part for me is that as a technologists, I have seen first hand what an organization can do with unfettered access to data, when the checks and balances are lost, when we believe we are the ones capable of dictating what is good for society, on their behalf, without choice, and what a little power can do to any person.

What further amplifies the concern is that it is not government that is driving this “big brother” state of affairs, its big tech. These are entities that are not elected officials, but corporations that transcend physical and logical boundaries. They have the ability to influence what you see, what you think, and they have the ability to choose sides.

Overreaching for Your Safety

There are two very specific events that are happening that I believe we should all be extremely concerned about:

Contact-Tracing
Censorship

... It seems a far stretch to remove their content simply because it doesn’t conform to WHO, and goes contrary to spirt of the examples Susan provided. In essence, YouTube is saying you are not allowed to disagree with WHO, at all; do so, and your content will be removed. But what if they are wrong? Are we not allowed to question that?

That is how science and society works, or at least it should. Everyone working together to come to something that makes sense in a world where nothing makes sense. This level of discourse has been one of the things that makes the web what it is, it has been its beauty and power. ...

In April 2020, Facebook announced it would ban protest events that violate social distancing rules.

Events that defy governments’ guidance on social distancing aren’t allowed on Facebook
Facebook spokesperson to The Verge ...

How do you say yes to state government, but not Federal? How do you tell China, Cuba, North Korea they are wrong for their censorship when we do the same thing? ...



What is especially distressing for me is that there is little I see that we can do to reverse the course of events. The most practical approach is a decentralized system that protects the web, but I fear that we have moved well beyond the practicality of a change like that.

That fact is that a very large percentage of society won’t even understand what is happening, and frankly, won’t care, at least until they find themselves wondering why they can’t find information on the web, or why they are wearing a digital golden star.