Post AtWFDM4V1Kou2rbnou by Nonilex@masto.ai
(DIR) More posts by Nonilex@masto.ai
(DIR) Post #AtWAu8kpuSGnQLzfay by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T13:41:15Z
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#GiftArticleAMERICAN PANOPTICONThe #Trump admin is pooling #data on Americans. Experts fear what comes next.by Ian Bogost & Charlie WarzelIf you were tasked with building a #panopticon, your design might look a lot like the #information stores of the US federal govt—a collection of large, complex agencies, each making use of enormous volumes of data provided by or collected from #citizens.#law #privacy #InfoSec #AmericanAutocracy #tech #DOGE #Musk #surveillance https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/04/american-panopticon/682616/?gift=guxsrl_dAdXUP9zqbQPWxc3WqSyzCi3gasJ-au_BC9g&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
(DIR) Post #AtWBluZ4slrv3M8M8u by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T13:50:58Z
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The federal govt is a veritable cosmos of #information, made up of constellations of #databases: The #IRS gathers comprehensive #financial & #employment info from every taxpayer; the Dept of Labor maintains the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) system, which collects the #personal info of many workers; #DHS amasses #data about the movements of every person who travels by air commercially or crosses the nation’s borders; the #DEA tracks license plates scanned on American roads.#Trump #law
(DIR) Post #AtWC7RFkXkdqW0MGrQ by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T13:54:50Z
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And that’s only a minuscule sampling. More obscure agencies, such as the recently gutted #CFPB, keep records of corporate trade secrets, #credit reports, #mortgage info, & other sensitive #data, including lists of people who have fallen on financial hardship.A fragile combination of decades-old laws, norms, & jungly bureaucracy has so far prevented repositories such as these from assembling into a centralized American #surveillance state. #Trump #law #privacy #InfoSec #tech #DOGE #Musk
(DIR) Post #AtWCO4jrVKKZbxNNR2 by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T13:57:52Z
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But that appears to be changing. Since #Trump’s 2nd inauguration, #ElonMusk & #DOGE have systematically gained #access to sensitive #data across the federal govt, & in ways people in several agencies have described…as both dangerous & disturbing. Despite DOGE’s stated mission, little efficiency seems to have been achieved. Now a new phase of Trump’s project is under way: Not only are individual agencies being breached, but the info they hold is being pooled…#law #privacy #InfoSec #surveillance
(DIR) Post #AtWCTwxxJdt3F4llwG by hosford42@techhub.social
2025-04-27T13:58:55Z
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@Nonilex And pooled for what purpose, precisely?
(DIR) Post #AtWClkzYZf93Jk0dhw by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T14:02:09Z
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In March, #Trump issued an #ExecutiveOrder aiming to eliminate the #data #silos that keep everything separate. Historically, much of the data collected by the govt had been heavily compartmentalized & secured; even for those legally authorized to see sensitive data, requesting access for use by another govt agency is typically a painful process that requires justifying what you need, why you need it, & proving that it is used for those purposes only. Not so under Trump.#law #privacy #InfoSec
(DIR) Post #AtWCynMX4VcgQyyOhM by bjb@fosstodon.org
2025-04-27T14:04:29Z
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@Nonilex This is why we should discourage governments from sharing info between departments.Any info collection should be limited to the minimum that is needed for program delivery and purged as soon as possible after delivery is accomplished.I'm currently looking at you, "revenue canada checkbox for add-me-to-electoral-list-checkbox", but this applies to all government data collection.
(DIR) Post #AtWDCOdhmvFtoMUW0G by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T14:06:58Z
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This is a perilous moment. Rapid technological advances over the past two decades have made #DataShedding ubiquitous—whether it comes from the devices everyone carries or the platforms we use to communicate with the world. As a society, we produce unfathomable quantities of #information, & that information is easier to collect than ever before.#Trump #law #privacy #InfoSec #AmericanAutocracy #tech #DOGE #Musk #surveillance
(DIR) Post #AtWDGsxqyyYT1M3X0K by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T14:07:47Z
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The government has tons of it, some of which is obvious—names, addresses, & census data—& much of which may surprise you. Consider, say, a limited tattoo database, created in 2014 by the National Institute of Standards & Technology, & distributed to multiple institutions for the purpose of training software systems to recognize common tattoos associated with gangs & criminal organizations.#Trump #law #privacy #InfoSec #AmericanAutocracy #tech #DOGE #Musk #surveillance
(DIR) Post #AtWDLfWqMaQCnahedc by noplasticshower@infosec.exchange
2025-04-27T14:08:37Z
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@Nonilex there is sadly little #privacy in the United States. The government has a huge long way to go to catch up to data brokers, advertising brokers (meta and Google), and medical information companies with regard to citizen portfolios. Palantir has been busy doing this for the federal spooks and cops for years. Of course, that's not to justify the move or make it seem like a good idea. It's just the reality on the ground.
(DIR) Post #AtWDbs2RcWG6ELD4Hg by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T14:11:34Z
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The #FBI has its own “Next Generation Identification” #biometric & #criminal-history #database program; the agency also has a #FacialRecognition apparatus capable of matching people against >640M photos—a database made up of #DriversLicense & #passport photos, as well as mug shots. The #SocialSecurity Admin keeps a master #earnings file, which contains the “individual earnings histories for each of the 350+ million SSNs that have been assigned to workers.”#Trump #law #privacy #InfoSec #DOGE
(DIR) Post #AtWDvVqVqCQdC2zjmq by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T14:15:07Z
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Other govt #databases contain secret #whistleblower data. At the Dept of #Veterans Affairs, you’ll find granular #MentalHealth info on fmr service members, including notes from #therapy sessions, details about #medication, & accounts of substance abuse. Govt agencies including the #IRS, #FBI, #DHS, & Dept of #Defense have all purchased #cellphone-#location data, & possibly collected them, via secretive groups such as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.#Trump #law #privacy #InfoSec
(DIR) Post #AtWEE2kCGV5mRBsPxo by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T14:18:28Z
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That means the govt has at least some ability to map or re-create the past everyday movements of some American citizens. This is hardly even a cursory list of what is publicly known.Advancements in #AI promise to turn this unwieldy mass of #data & metadata into something easily searchable, politically weaponizable, & maybe even profitable.#Trump #law #privacy #InfoSec #AmericanAutocracy #tech #DOGE #Musk #surveillance
(DIR) Post #AtWELufo9jXhitZnsG by hskzoom@ruhr.social
2025-04-27T14:19:51Z
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@Nonilex This creepy and frightening merging of disparate databases, including analysis by Palantir, can also happen here.
(DIR) Post #AtWEOH183LLdbIftNQ by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T14:20:19Z
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#DOGE is reportedly attempting to build a “master database”of #immigrant data to aid in #deportations; #NIH Dir Jay Bhattacharya has floated the possibility of an #autism registry (the admin quickly walked it back).America already has all the tech it needs to build a draconian #surveillance society—the conditions for such a dystopia have been falling into place slowly over time, waiting for the right #authoritarian to come along & use it to crack down on American #privacy & #freedom.#Trump #law
(DIR) Post #AtWEhPTqoL1VLpEZns by mckra1g@mastodon.social
2025-04-27T14:23:44Z
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@Nonilex They’re amassing Full Spectrum Dominance and planning to deploy it against their own citizenry. I only hope there’s some sort of opposition in the works behind the scenes, bc if there’s not, things are going to get very bad—incomprehensibly bad—for millions of people (and not just immigrants). Literally enemies of the state (as defined by the bully in the Oval).#infosec #opsec #tech #USpol
(DIR) Post #AtWEtaeF7EwZSgu2K0 by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T14:25:59Z
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But what can an American authoritarian, or his private-sector accomplices, do with all the government’s #data, both alone & combined with data from the private sector? To answer this question, we spoke with former government officials who have spent time in these systems & who know what #information these agencies collect & how it is stored.#Trump #law #privacy #InfoSec #AmericanAutocracy #tech #DOGE #Musk #surveillance
(DIR) Post #AtWFDM4V1Kou2rbnou by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T14:29:33Z
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To a person, these experts are alarmed about the possibilities for harm, graft, & abuse. Today, they argued, #Trump is targeting #LawFirms, but #DOGE #data could allow him to target individual Americans at scale. For instance, they described how the govt…is…a #debt collector on all kinds of federal #loans. Those who struggle to repay…could be punished beyond what’s possible now, by having professional licenses revoked or…wages or bank accounts frozen.#law #privacy #InfoSec #tech #surveillance
(DIR) Post #AtWFggkBEyNuYb5lBo by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T14:33:47Z
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…#data could also allow the govt or…its private-sector allies to target big swaths of the population based on a supposed attribute or trait. Maybe you have info from background checks or health studies that allows you to punish people who have seen a therapist…. Or to terminate certain…benefits to anybody who has ever shown income above a particular threshold, claiming that they obviously don’t need public benefits because they once made a high salary.#Trump #law #privacy #InfoSec #surveillance
(DIR) Post #AtWG5uQPVls8EBs3Vo by Nonilex@masto.ai
2025-04-27T14:39:21Z
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A pool of govt #data is especially powerful when combined w/private-sector data, such as… #mobile-#phone #geolocation data…could make inferences about actions, activities, or associates of…anybody perceived as a govt critic or #dissident.…The govt’s current use of combined data in service of #deportations—& its refusal to offer credible evidence of wrongdoing for some of those deported—suggests the admin is willing to use the data for #political aims.#Trump #law #privacy #InfoSec #surveillance
(DIR) Post #AtWHmaF8WT6A2cVgye by PaulWermer@sfba.social
2025-04-27T14:58:17Z
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@Nonilex "...suggests the admin is willing to use the data for #political aims."Highlighting why the right to privacy is so important. Of course, 200+ years ago, they couldn't imagine all the ways our lives could be probed, but the Constitution addressed the concerns that were known: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."
(DIR) Post #AtWJDdHrPgl7FrFKEK by Robo105@mastodon.social
2025-04-27T15:14:23Z
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@Nonilex Everyone watching and informing on everyone else including family and loved ones. Consider how thorough the Stazi were in East Germany and yet the regime still fell. What happens when people no longer care if the regime knows/is watching and goes out on the streets to protest in mass numbers
(DIR) Post #AtWJNZOuiWPw67HekK by Npars01@mstdn.social
2025-04-27T15:16:10Z
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@Nonilex Larry Ellison & his petrostate dictatorship investors are very keen on AI surveillance state IT infrastructure. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/09/omnipresent-ai-cameras-will-ensure-good-behavior-says-larry-ellison/https://www.oracle.com/middleeast/news/announcement/oracle-will-train-saudi-nationals-in-artificial-intelligence-and-other-latest-digital-technologies-2023-12-14/https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/project-2025-oracle-19654875.phphttps://www.theregister.com/2024/09/16/oracle_ai_mass_surveillance_cloud/An alliance with Peter Thiel's Palantir is a marriage made in hell.https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-02-15/larry-ellison-trumphttps://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-considered-buying-palantir-last-year-and-a-disney-exec-set-up-the-meeting-2017-6https://revealnews.org/article/oracle-and-palantir-said-diversity-figures-were-trade-secrets-the-real-secret-embarrassing-numbers/https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/12/larry_ellison_wants_all_data/https://www.techradar.com/pro/oracle-cto-wants-to-put-all-americas-data-into-one-big-system-to-study-including-dnahttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/us/politics/trump-elon-musk-silicon-valley.html
(DIR) Post #AtWNigncnv7QwSAUDo by lin11c@toad.social
2025-04-27T16:04:49Z
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@Nonilex Bookmarking this thread. There is not enough awareness of what these malign forces working with the regime are doing. Devil creep Peter Thiel's Palantir is getting more power. We will deeply regret this if we don't stop it. Our Congress is not made for this fight. DOGE is just the start.
(DIR) Post #AtWQ1MxP094uoQmCau by stumpelrilzchen@mastodon.social
2025-04-27T16:30:34Z
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@Nonilex .. #FacialRecognition .. Not to mention the data and photos from ATMs and vending machines, but also from social media, cell phones, computers, video chats, etc.
(DIR) Post #AtWQzN7HXPL8gK0cSW by dnelson@masto.ai
2025-04-27T16:41:25Z
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@Nonilex We should be building a database of all the enablers, facilitators, leaders, advisors, and funders of this authoritarian coup. It will come in handy in due course. Accountability WILL have its day.
(DIR) Post #AtY8VgNIFTRzG6GuZ6 by adamsfan@mastodon.social
2025-04-28T12:23:49Z
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@Nonilex Brave new World.........