Winding down “control people’s communications” idea
I’m interested in technology. I’m trying to build a system that will allow me to control people’s communications more effectively. what do you think about that?
I told him that it was an idea antithetical to everything America stands for, and that generations of honorable warriors have fought to ensure such projects can never succeed. He pressed a little:
but think about all the possibilities. imagine if everyone could be controlled by me. I could make everyone do whatever I wanted.
In this brief article I will “steel man” his argument (the opposite of “straw man”, whereby a weaker version of the argument is attacked), and end by stating why every version of this argument is untenable.
The strongest version of the argument is that it is important to prevent organized terrorism against civilians by disrupting terrorists communications networks. In the past ten years, America has been witness to burning of cities and breach of a capitol building based on person to person communications, and it seems tempting to say that only by controlling people’s communications can violent terrorism be stopped.
Even this strong argument mistakes oppression for control. Plotting violent actions has always been illegal and there are legal repercussions for doing so. But controlling people’s communications forcefully goes beyond preventing violence to pure and unaccountable tyranny. If anyone ever held such power, they would misuse it as a tyrant. It is up to everyone to prevent such infrastructure from being built in the first place.
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