Pandora’s iPhone, by Stuart Carlson, 2016. Still spot-on in 2026:

A backdoor for the good guys simply does not exist. Once you build it, hackers walk through, authoritarian governments walk through, and the rest follows.

The UK is pressuring for chat control right now. EU Chat Control initiatives keep popping up. We need to keep saying NO to this!

      • Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
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        6 hours ago

        I’m not saying I don’t believe the US has repressive policies, but I am questioning any source that claims to have detailed enough info about NK internal policy to accurately rank them compared to other countries

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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          6 hours ago

          The thing is, being repressive becomes more and more expensive past a certain point. It’s not cheap being the prison capital of the world or building a surveillance state. The US is one of the only countries that can even afford to do as much repression as it does.

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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              6 hours ago

              Maybe to some extent, but prison slavery only provides about $9 billion in services and produces over $2 billion in goods annually.

              For comparison, the total cost of the U.S. prison system is approximately $445 billion annually.

              • Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
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                5 hours ago

                Absolutely correct! Tbf I did say it helps to offset the cost, not that it’s anywhere near profitable

              • freagle@lemmy.ml
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                5 hours ago

                Sure, but that’s why we are the only country in the world to charge prisoners hundreds of dollars a day for the privilege of being in prison, on top of the price gouging for basic services.