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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   1834 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 3, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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How much detail do you think is in the data that governments and tech companies are keeping about us?

  1. Are they keeping a log of every website you visit?

  2. Are they keeping a log of your phone's 24/7 location data?

  3. Are they keeping transcripts of all of your phone calls?

  4. Are they keeping transcripts of every word you say in the vicinity of a smart device?

  5. etc.?

#1, #2 and #3 are technically feasible and only require coordinating a small number of companies with server side mechanisms, but it's vulnerable to whistleblowing.

At least until the 2020s the employees at Google would have revolted if they found insidious spyware like that. Not sure how it would go in 2025...

#4 would be challenging to do en masse without the infosec community noticing.

If you're willing to go full tinfoil hat you can greatly increase inconvenience to yourself to mitigate the first 3. Naomi Brockwell's YouTube channel is a fairly high quality resource.

https://youtube.com/@NaomiBrockwellTV

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