Moral of the story: privacy is an illusion. So why not just enjoy the benefits of a smart appliance?
I do not agree with this. In my view comparing corporate surveillance with state/law enforcement surveillance is like comparing apples and pears.
I am sure that if you are target of the CIA or any other intelligence service you might say that your privacy is greatly threatened and it can even be so that it has become an illusion.
And Im also sure the intelligence services has had fancy tools since the sixties and before to monitor people.
But it is also evident that even in the most repressive states individual groups and individuals have maintained there privacy even with the efforts of state crackdowns.
In democratic and even in oppressive countries revelations of illegal surveillance has also met controversy and sometimes forced states to at least think about their behavior and the cost of getting caught.
We have cases as the story with the NSO group, a spying cooperation hired by states, that been caught with the most sophisticated ways of surveillance. I am sure they are bothered with the public outcry of their surveillance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSO_Group
Edwards Snowden revelations also showed the public outcry and what a fundamental need privacy is for the humankind. We also have have examples from the history how countries that have broken free from Orwelian surveillance usually have stricter laws about what is acceptable.
So change happens and privacy is no illusion even if privacy is often threatened and often violated.
Democratic states also use to have laws against bugging and unwarranted surveillance. Of cause these laws is not always followed, but if it comes out the public it still get reaction and is a pain for the official caught.
@thiggins post is example of something else thou even if it seems be a thin line between state and corporate surveillance.
This is type of private surveillance on an industrial scale for profit is a relative new frontier that has expanded greatly and in my opinion is out of control. Bugging in homes is an extreme overreach and should not be neglected with: ”are you naive, it is nothing to do about it, what do you have to hide”.
This forum is a great example of the opposite, and so are so many open source communities. People can make a change. One way is using other technological solutions. Even greater is what other solutions prove. It's possible to have all the ”benefits” without to have to loose the most trusted place in your life, the only sanctuary to be yourself and to share yourself with your loved ones, your home.
Im confident that the big companies that live on surveillance of the humankind is feeling that the tide is changing. With knowledge people are not comfortable with being monitored.
Privacy is no illusion and the greatest failure would be to accept it as illusion. If that happens, yes, privacy will become an illusion. But I do not believe we are there and I am optimistic that the unhinged corporate surveillance have their golden days now and the reason is the speed of the implementation. But we already see that even the worst out there are forced to understand that surveillance is controversial and can come with a backlash.
It's a great time for making money on the really private smart home technology that already exist and Im sure will be even better .
