Re:Governments Turn to Commercial Spyware to Intimidate Diss...
by dTal on Monday May 30, 2016 @02:36PM
(#11802471)
In that particular story, I'd say the level of centralised power evidenced by the ability to manipulate individual traffic signals is as frightening as the quantity of information fed into it. That's not just surveillance, that's top-down control of the functioning of a city.
Re:Governments Turn to Commercial Spyware to Intimidate Diss...
by tdkl on Monday May 30, 2016 @04:11PM
(#11802898)
From technological standpoint it's not that big of a deal. But from civil rights it's horrible, if it was a reported demonstration and the demonstrators were calm.
Re:Governments Turn to Commercial Spyware to Intimidate Diss...
by sliverstorm on Monday May 30, 2016 @05:12PM
(#11803222)
Modern traffic systems are managed by a centralized hub these days. For example of why, suppose a major accident on a major road. The system can adjust light patterns to help route traffic around the accident, keeping the roads operating as sanely as possible.
An activism group was meeting in a city center and was to walk to another part of the city for a demonstration.
My friend's team had video surveilance feeds all over the city to track the activism group as they walked from their meeting place to the demonstration.
As the group began to walk, my friend's team was able to delay the group with Don't Walk signals. The delay was long enough for a police barricade to permanently get in the activism group's way and stop the demonstration for the day.
I may have some of the details wrong or his recount may not have fully been 100% honest, but it feels as this situation is very achievable with current technology.
The most worrying piece of this story is the activists are not being confronted with a human who can talk to them. They're being thwarted by a faceless group without the chance ever discuss their reasons for demonstrating. The government in this situation was able to get what they wanted in the near term, but at the expense of frustration of their citizens in the long term.