Asurveillance state is a country where the government engages in pervasive surveillance of large numbers of its citizens and visitors. Such widespread surveillance is usually justified as being necessary to prevent crime or acts of terrorism, but may also be used to stifle criticism of and opposition to the government.
Examples of early surveillance states include the former Soviet Union and the former East Germany, which had a large network of informers and an advanced technology base in computing and spy-camera technology. But these states did not have today’s technologies for mass surveillance, such as the use of databases and pattern recognition software to cross-correlate information obtained by wire tapping, including speech recognition and telecommunications traffic analysis, monitoring of financial transactions, automatic number plate recognition, the tracking of the position of mobile telephones, and facial recognition systems. $
Fourth in a series I of comics about protesting safety tips I made with @this.is.ysabel . This one is about the dangers of police surveillance and how to avoid it if possible. Keep being safe when you go out. Don’t get snatched!
First the surveillance state came for the terrorists, and I did not speak out—because I am not a terrorist.
Then it came for those who appear vagely Muslim, and I did not speak out— because I am not a Muslim.
Then it came for impoverished minorities and dissidents, and I did not speak out—because I am white and not a dissident.
And now, Trump and the Republican Party want to expand use of the surveillance state against people with disabilities.
I say this because a lot of Americans believe that the surveillance state–or a form of police state, for that matter–doesn’t exist in this country; that is a myth held by those fortunate enough to not be one of the millions of people who experience America as a surveillance state and/or a police state.
It is incumbent upon all of us to agitate against the further growth of the surveillance state not only for our own interest but for that of our brothers and sisters whose lives are adversely affected by its existence and perpetual growth.
“News coverage of digital forensics often celebrates its role in prosecuting serious felonies. But when it comes to reproductive rights, Conti-Cook says, the same tools “will be a powerful [asset] to police and prosecutors in a more criminalized landscape” for abortion seekers.” [Mother Jones]
“Unlike medical records held by doctors and hospitals, the information collected by health-focused apps isn’t covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a 1996 federal law that limits where healthcare providers can share your health information.
That means health app makers are mostly free to do what they want with the data they collect. […]
What’s more, even when your data is de-identified by removing identifiable information such as your name or email address, it can be combined with other information—such as your location, contacts, or unique identifiers in your phone—and traced back to you, research suggests.” [Consumer Reports]
Twitter thread from user @nandoodles about men in adtech who want to sell your period app data to law enforcement:
If you don’t think these people won’t use your data against you, I advise you to reconsider in light of Texas’s offering bounties. And that there’s other states considering offering bounties and vigilantism as well.
I’m sorry, this is not fair and I know it’s a pain in the ass to have to note all your info yourself in a journal, but it’s better to NOT give these people another tool to exert control over the bodies of people possessing the potential (regardless of how remote) for pregnancy.
Anyone using a period tracker app needs to very strongly consider deleting it. Not now, but RIGHT NOW!
Your personal data that is being collected can and has already been mined and sold to marketing firms and law enforcement. You don’t need to be Margaret Atwood to imagine who your private information might be sold to, or what period-tracking data might be used for in a Republican state, or in a conservative court of law.
I really hate to sound alarmist, but this is Christofascist America in 2022, please protect yourself and act accordingly.
I’m not going to be reblogging a lot of content about the leaked court opinion brief, for multiple reasons: this is not a very good news platform, you have almost certainly heard about it from sources other than me, and I don’t see the value to contributing to an atmosphere of doom.
But one angle that I do think worth signal boosting is to point out that the specter of a post-Roe world is going to pose different dangers and challenges from a pre-Roe one. The increased availability of information and easily portable medicine, combined with the state of Web 2.0 as it is, means that the issue facing a lot of people will be less a lack of access as a lack of privacy.
That is to say: not necessarily that you can’t get a certain medical procedure, but that the instant you look at the page that information is going to be available for sale to anyone from your family, your employers, to law enforcement agencies.
For these reasons, I urge people to make note of resources now, and to save them somewhere offline so that if you or someone close to you needs them in the future, they can be passed around without alerting the panopticon. Do not leave a paper trail. A paper trail could bring trouble not only to the door of the person needing help, but to anyone else who helps them along the way.
Also, STOP USING CHROME. Chrome is specifically designed to send everything you do online back to Google, who does the aforementioned selling to everyone willing to pay for it (or who gets a court order). Do not trust any Google products with your health information especially.
when i was 15, i felt like… really deeply DEEPLY uncomfortable with the fact that there were cameras everywhere at my highschool. the sensation of not being able to walk to class without being monitored somehow really fucked with me for some reason.
this only worsened after seeing this segment on the school news that featured various stupid stuff caught on the hallway cameras, like people falling down or readjusting their underwear when they thought the hallways were empty.
but they werent. there was someone watching, and they forgot to police their behavior and ended up getting embarrassed for it. everyone laughed at this segment. i remember the classroom being filled with snickers as someone fell flat on their face. i wasn’t a “superwoke” kid or anything, but i didnt think this was funny. i thought it was scary. what if that was me? what if i got caught fixing a wedgie on camera without even knowing it?
i remember these cameras being used for everything – spotting dress code violations, catching students skipping class, etc. you can argue that they shouldnt have broken the rules, sure, but that doesnt excuse the concept of Being Constantly Watched.
and what about the times when they weren’t doing something wrong? like when they were walking back from the bathroom or tripping over their own feet? did that warrant embarrassment and shame from their watchful spectators? does existing in a school hallway warrant surveillance?
this brings me to the concept of anti-shooter architecture. there is a rising interest in school layouts that prepare for the possibility of a shooter roaming the halls. these improvements include bulletproof glass, concrete cover, and…. something scary.
many of these highschool floor plans include some type of circular or central “watch tower” feature, and the designers actively boast about it being a panopticon. a panopticon. the same thing they use in prisons to enforce the idea that the prisoners are always being watched, though they can never really know when.
what kind of effect will “anti-shooter architecture” have on kid’s minds? the constant threat of violence is already taking its toll on teenagers who have undergone active shooter drills, and this concept of air-tight security (clear backpacks, metal detectors, camera surveillance, constantly locked doors, etc) is not really an environment you would want to raise a child in, so why are we sticking kids in schools like that for 7-8 hours a day?
which leads into the next thing. many people’s solution to this is more guns, which equates to police presence in schools. ive already seen videos coming out of school cops beating black kids and ordering muslim girls to take off their hijabs. but beyond the racism and xenophobia, it’s another (now living) reminder of the unsafe environment these kids find themselves in. another reminder that theyre being watched and their behavior is being judged according to the law, or whatever the cop or teachers find inappropriate. that standing up for themselves or arguing can be taken as hostile and warrant physical intervention.
police presence on campus grounds is DIRECTLY used to suppress student activism. you know that.i know that. we know that. you remember that photo of the cop spraying a line of peaceful protesters? you remember that cop that tackled a student for holding a sign? you remember the fucking car fuls of kids that were arrested for protesting?
police are our enemy, but they can be found in plenty of highschools and colleges now. even in elementary schools, where young children are being taught to obey and trust cops. the conditioning is being started young, and if you don’t conform to it, you become a watched enemy on your own campus.
what kind of affect will this militarization and surveillance in schools and campuses have on future generations? it’s impossible to deny that environment has an effect on development, so what kind of behavior are we encouraging when we educate children & young adults in schools that not only prepare them for violence, but instill them with the idea that they are constantly being watched, monitored, and judged? that they could be victims of gun violence at any time, or that protests are an excuse for police brutality?
