
How to Talk to Your Children About Mass Surveillance - ghubbard
http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2014/05/cory-doctorow-how-to-talk-to-your-children-about-mass-surveillance/
======
cinquemb
> _curl '[http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2014/05/cory-
> doctorow-h...](http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2014/05/cory-doctorow-
> how-to-talk-to-your-children-about-mass-surveillance/') | grep "information
> asymmetry" | wc -w_

> 0

Awesome, no mention of information asymmetry when it comes to mass
surveillance. The conversation is still on a base level.

I'll leave this here: "Information Asymmetry and Power in a Surveillance
Society" [http://mpra.ub.uni-
muenchen.de/53109/1/MPRA_paper_53109.pdf](http://mpra.ub.uni-
muenchen.de/53109/1/MPRA_paper_53109.pdf)

"This paper has engaged in a wide ranging discussion around the issues of
information asymmetry in contemporary life. We have examined the relationship
between such asymmetries and how power is ineluctably interrelated to such
imbalances. Within this, we demonstrated how key technologies and techniques
have been, and continue to be, employed to deepen and widen the information
gap.

Unsurprisingly, we note that there are marked differences between those who
inhabit the opposite banks – we are witnessing an entrenchment of power and
information within a small, exclusive group on one side while the general
population bears the weight of evermore intrusive surveillance.

One potential,and possibly democratic, move would be to ensure that knowledge
is spread more equally and transparently.[…]"

Most surely such ideas can be transferred to "tell me like I'm five" levels.

------
p4bl0
I love reading Cory Doctorow, he really is a fantastic writer, thanks for
sharing this.

> My worst parenting moments (so far!) have been when I’ve paid too much
> attention to the kid doing something at the limits of her abilities, only to
> make her so self-conscious about failing while someone else looked on that
> she moved on to something else.

This is the best analogy I've seen to the idea that in a world where no one
could disobey the law, we could never make any progress as a civilization.

------
greenwalls
It's depressing that we have to talk to our children about mass surveillance
at all.

~~~
privong
It's only depressing because mass surveillance is happening. Even if it
wasn'twasn't happening, one should still talk about. As Thomas Jefferson
observed, "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Keeping people informed
of the dangers is part of that vigilance.

------
jmgrosen
Does anyone have any good ways to inform _teenagers_ about the perils of mass
surveillance? Practically none of my peers care about it.

~~~
Spittie
EDIT: I forgot to actually tell why I replied. Both of us are teenagers (if
you consider a 20 years old a teenager)

I went to a Stallman talk just few weeks ago. Obviously a lot of it went into
mass surveillance and privacy, since that's the hot topic of the moment.

I was with a friend, at the end of the talk he described Stallman as "the
biggest paranoid I've ever heard". And mind you, that's not after a two minute
"Everyone is spying", that's after a 1 hour and an half talk with plenty of
examples from everywhere in the world.

I guess some people just don't care.

P.s. I suggest to anyone to go to a Stallman talk, or to listen to a record.
One might not agree with his view, but he's a great speaker and has a lot of
good points to reflect on.

~~~
cheald
As a guy in his thirties, I long held the opinion that Stallman was a lunatic
fringe paranoid who was worried about things that would never be actual
concerns.

Since the first Snowden revelations dropped last May (wow, a year already!) I
have had to eat a lot of personal crow. I don't think that it's unreasonable
to listen to Stallman and say "wow, this guy is ridiculously paranoid", but
I've had to come to the realization that _that doesn 't make him wrong_.

It's not a comfortable realization.

