China collecting Apple iCloud data

Re:China collecting Apple iCloud data by DasIch on Monday October 20, 2014 @01:56PM (#8483503)

Even a government will only have the capabibilty to perform meaningful surveillance on a limited number of people not to mention act on it.

Assuming the majority of people desire not to be tortured or killed far more then they desire freedom. It's probably more effective to simply pretend that you're performing surveillance as an intimidation tactic, than to actually perform surveillance unnoticed. It's also far more socially acceptable on an international level than violence.

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Re:China collecting Apple iCloud data by tessierashpool on Monday October 20, 2014 @03:03PM (#8483878)

Agree & disagree.

Re this:

  Even a government will only have the capabibilty to
  perform meaningful surveillance on a limited number of
  people not to mention act on it.

That claim is currently true, but if you understand Bayes' Theorem and Moore's Law, you know that it's just a matter of time.

But re this:

  It's probably more effective to simply pretend that
  you're performing surveillance as an intimidation
  tactic, than to actually perform surveillance unnoticed.

iirc, former East German Stasi or KGB have said essentially the same thing.

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