NAOMI BROCKWELL: Surveillance has dangerous psychological consequences -- yet we're creating a world without privacy. We aren't passive enjoyers of tech, we have say in its direction. Let's write a better future.

People become defensive instead of open-minded.  Admitting to a change in our beliefs might seem like a weakness in the face of ever-present digital history.  And knowing that our actions are constantly monitored and recorded can make us refrain from exploring new ideas, or questioning the status quo because we fear the potential repercussions or judgment based on our digital trail with every digital action being scrutinized, there's a subtle push toward conformity.  It becomes safer to follow the herd than to stand out or challenge prevailing norms and this leads to a society that values uniformity of individual thought.  This new-found digital shadow haunts us.  Instead of spontaneous expressions or genuine searches for knowledge, we might lean toward actions that look better in our digital profile.  There is this subtle internalization that our digital self is in some way more important than our real self.  In a world like this, open authenticity becomes scarce, replaced by curated personalities for digital consumption.  These are profound shifts in the collective psyche of society that we need to be aware of . . . .  --Naomi Brockwell

Privacy is a vaunted goal to get after.  But surveillance is so far developed that it is hard to imagine privacy winning.  

In our communities, police forces in squad cars have receded in favor of crowd-sourced surveillance.

.@naomibrockwell says, "privacy is fundamental to a free society.”

She lists some of the many ways that my privacy is being violated.

She persuades me to delete some of the apps on my phone: pic.twitter.com/a8a52WQgcj

— John Stossel (@JohnStossel) September 18, 2024

Pervasive surveillance has 2 major effects on society:
- It puts freedom at risk (10:43)
- It has deep psychological impacts (18:52)

We need to be very careful not to normalize constant surveillance.
Instead let's make sure we're writing the best possible future. pic.twitter.com/0H8aBOJ8QL

— Naomi Brockwell priv/acc (@naomibrockwell) March 24, 2024

"Crowd-Sourced Suspicion Apps Are Out of Control," Matthew Guariglia, Electronic Frontier Foundation, October 21, 2021.

"Community Surveillance Apps,"

"Networked Self-Defense and Monetized Vigilantism: Private Surveillance Systems," Elizabeth E. Joh, SSRN, July 26, 2021.  

"The Rise of Fear-Based Social Media Like Nextdoor, Citizen, and Now Amazon's Neighbors," Rani Molla, May 7, 2019.

"Breaking the Limits in Urban Video Monitoring: Massive Crowd Source Surveillance Over Vehicles," Vitaly Petrov; Sergey Andreev; Mario Gerla; Yevgeni Koucheryavy, IEEE Wireless Communications, September 23, 2018.

Crowdsourced Surveillanced and Networked Data, Nick Lally, Security Dialogue, SAGE, February 2017.

"The Real Monster of Street Level Surveillance," Rory Mir, Electronic Frontier Foundation, October 25, 2024.