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Comment by Scotrix | Hacker News Reader

“Asking our governments to create laws to protect us is much easier than…”

A bit naive that, it’s too late since data is already mostly available and it just takes a different government to make this protection obsolete.

That’s why we Germans/Europeans have tried to fight data collections and for protections for so long and quite hard (and probably have one of the most sophisticated policies and regulations in place) but over time it just becomes an impossibility to keep data collections as low as possible (first small exceptions for in itself very valid reasons, then more and more participants and normalization until there is no protection left…)

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It's not too late. Maybe it is for us: but in 100 years, who will really care about a database of uncomfortably-personal details about their dead ancestors? (Sure, DNA will still be an issue, but give that 1000 years and we'll probably have a new MRCA.) If we put a stop to things now (or soon), we can nip this in the bud.

It's probably not too late for us, either. Facial recognition by skull shape is still a concern, but only if the bad guys get up-to-date video of us. Otherwise, all they can do is investigate our historical activity. Other types of data have greater caveats preventing them from being useful long-term, provided we not participate in the illusion that it's "impossible to put the genie back in the bottle".

So what you're suggesting is we do whatever we can to avoid hitting 2 degrees of universal facial recognition precision? Given that the 1.5 degree target is now inevitably impossible.

Mass surveillance takes active maintenance, and most of its direct consequences cannot outlive the last of those subject to it. Alteration of the chemical composition of the atmosphere is expected to persist for millennia, with consequences that won't be felt for centuries. They're analogous only in that the same societal forces drive both: but trying to tackle those forces head-on is operating on such a high level of abstraction that you'd be wasting your time.

Start small. Get your kid's school to take the CCTV out of the toilet rooms. There's no such problem as "facial recognition" or "mass surveillance": there are many specific instances of it. Fight those.

But the Germans still ask people to register their religion, ostensibly so the government can give tax money to the relevant religion. Sorry, but the German government asking people to provide their religion to the government just reminds me of something unpleasant.

If that's your only nitpick then just look at France that has similar privacy protections, and doesn't collect religious data.

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