Dark Humor About US Laws, China, and Big Data
A few things you should know, and a comic to soften the blow
The 4th Amendment protects citizens from search and seizure, and is usually the portion of the Constitution cited to protect privacy. However, because private companies don’t need a subpoena to record your voice or face… getting information from professional databrokers has become a loophole for law enforcement.
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You might also be surprised to learn that this information is often purchased with tax dollars. Or not, depends on how cynical you’ve gotten.
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Although China isn’t necessarily purchasing data, they’ve certainly been collecting it. Their population is often enough to pressure a tech company into submission.
In May and June of 2020, many Americans tested the strength of China’s pressure on tech firms by logging on to YouTube, an American site, as current legal residents or citizens, and copy-pasting this, or similar criticisms of Chinese censorship, into the comments of English-language videos filmed by other Americans:
五毛党
Their comments, even when shielded by sentences in English about the videos above, were hidden by YouTube. The company said the censorship was an accident and began an investigation.
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Overall, governments getting data on citizens from the private sector is and should be alarming.
It is only within the last few years that Americans have begun to realize how much of their life has been recorded by businesses: their diseases, credit scores, ethnic backgrounds, addresses, facial features, and thousands of other personal details are used to serve ads — or perhaps, warrants.
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Whenever possible, I attempted to point to free resources, but this topic is still ongoing, so many articles are the result of long investigation and therefore are deserving of financial support. Author is not part of an affiliate program with these publications and will not receive compensation for your clicks.
Special kudos to Foreign Policy, for an excellent series of China/US/tech articles lately!
