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Comment by jackyinger | Hacker News Reader

Authoritarian regimes don’t run on facts. They run on the primacy of Authority. Cameras record factual information. Facts are inconvenient for Authority. You know, 1984 Department of Truth style.

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Yeah but the camera was broken that day the policeman beat you. On protest day? It's magically up and running.

They will have the AI just make a video of you doing whatever they feel like accusing you of and publish that from a .gov website.

It’s not a coincidence that the CIA just took down the World Fact Book.

When you control the cameras you can memory hole any inconvenient truths.

well if you never read about how any of those work you might think that.

In reality they are very much interested in facts, because they give them info who to oppress harder

This is really a failure to understand how oppressive regimes work.

The goal is not to accurately target people, the whole point is you don't care. The exercise of power is the point.

It doesn't matter who's door you kicked in: you were right to do it no matter what, and they were guilty no matter what.

Facts _are_ weapons for them though. If they have the video they can pick out the 12 seconds that looks like what they want, or if it's all bad just hide it.

They don't need it, but it's convenient.

You're talking about partial facts and misrepresentations at this point. You're also saying it yourself, facts aren't their primary concern, sure they can be convenient, anything can be made convenient if you're allowed to cherry pick. But the bigger problem is they also have no problems lying and making shit up. Not what I would call caring about facts.

I'm specifically saying that them having access to thousands of random cameras is to their benefit, and not because it will lead to accurate law enforcement.

Yes, they can take advantage of privacy violations, being able to misrepresent facts, and pointing to an infallible technology stack even though it is not.

Sometimes they don't even need real evidence. In 10 years if they get their way, if the AI says you're guilty, you're guilty. Not to mention all the extrajudicial punishments like getting banned from having a bank account or a job, which is like a death sentence.

Municipal cameras do exist for speeding, tolls, and maybe other road research. But Flock is the definition of let's get everyone in dragnet surveillance so we can pick on whoever we want, at least try.

You will need a lot of evidence to make such a counterintuitive claim, when surgically eliminating your enemies without bothering anyone else is such a logical strategy.

I don't think fascists are that smart, they will go after those that get in the way and those who they perceive as weak. They are bullies who are cowards and all that.

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