11 Tech Trends We Need to Dump in 2020 – PCMag AU

Marketing the Surveillance State

Distrust in the government is as American as apple pie, and there's a long tradition of the public railing against efforts to surveil them. The most recent, of course, are the Snowden leaks, which led to the termination of NSA spying programs and (supposed) reforms to the FISA courts. But while we were all so worried about the government building a massive surveillance apparatus in secret, we've allowed it to grow on our phones and in our consumer electronics. The close ties between Amazon's Ring products and a program that encourage customers to voluntarily turn over footage to local police, is just one example of how consumer products are being used to let Big Brother keep an eye on us. Companies need to put privacy first, and consumers need to be as suspicious of friendly corporations as they are of their own government. Max Eddy, Senior Software and Security Analyst

People buy Ring doorbells for all sorts of reasonsa sense of security, a way to deter porch pirates, the novelty of seeing who's at the door without even being home. But connected doorbells with a direct tie to Amazon's facial-recognition technology and partnerships with police departments and ICE are turning consumers into modern-day Stasi informants. Ring has partnerships with over 400 local police departments, and its Neighbors app lets users share footage of anybody who comes to their doorstep. People distributing leaflets or campaigning for a candidate can be subject to scrutiny and suspicion by those in the surrounding area on the app orif footage is put on social mediamuch worse. And undocumented family members, friends, delivery people, or domestic help are subject to facial recognition which is shared with local police departments and ICE.Chandra Steele, Senior Features Writer

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11 Tech Trends We Need to Dump in 2020 - PCMag AU