Brin's argument is that as the technology to record everything becomes so cheap that the cost is trivial, trying to enforce privacy and anonymity in a sea of cameras is a losing battle. We're better off as a society if we allow the recording and de-anonymization of public spaces, but we should also make this information free to anyone. In return for the loss privacy in public spaces, we should demand that the wealthy and powerful give up some of their privacy as well. Obviously, the wealthy and powerful will fight to keep their privacy, but as recording devices become ubiquitous the landscape favors those pushing to set information free rather than those trying to secure it.
To relate it to the story here, rather than fighting the anonymity of private citizens who commit minor trespasses like jaywalking, we should be focusing on uncovering trespasses committed by those in power. Say, the financial dealings of Xi Jinping or Donald Trump.
I don't think it would work if we didn't apply it to everyone equally. I don't care what your job is, or how many "state secrets" it deals with, no exceptions.
I also think it would bring ~10 years of extreme societal collapse as we would realize that most of our social norms make no sense, and those things that we demonize are actually quite common.
You might also be interested in: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/08/this-ma...
Like racism?
I was thinking of things more like: functional drug users, sexual-practices, etc.
One can make the same argument about height-ism, ugly-ism, or money-ism.
We already have courts and laws, however being rich and well connected offers a degree of immunity.
"It's for the greater good"
You could say that in more (relatively) free societies it is also this way. But no. In China the default position is "everything is forbidden unless explicitly permitted" whereas in the US for example this is flipped to the near opposite position, "everything is permitted unless it involves doing something forbidden."
SHENZHEN—Gan Liping pumped her bike across a busy street, racing to beat a crossing light before it turned red. She didn’t make it. Immediately, her face popped up on two video screens above the street. “Jaywalkers will be captured using facial-recognition technology,” the screens said.
Facial-recognition technology, once a specter of dystopian science fiction, is becoming a feature of daily life in China, where authorities are using it on streets, in subway stations, at airports and at border crossings in a vast experiment in social engineering. Their goal: to influence behavior and identify lawbreakers.
Ms. Gan, 31 years old, had been caught on camera crossing illegally here once before, allowing the system to match her two images. Text displayed on the crosswalk screens identified her as a repeat offender.
“I won’t ever run a red light again,” she said.