Tag: authoritarianism

Apple Should Rethink Face ID Settings for our Current Era

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From Phillip Michaels at Six Colors:

The central role that phones play in our lives coupled with uncertain times at home and abroad have people rethinking how they should approach Face ID. Apple needs to be doing the same.

One thing I’ve always appreciated about Android is how many automation apps exist that let you configure settings much closer to the metal than iOS Shortcuts allows. Tasker was my go-to for this back in the day. It could set DND based on calendar events, change deep settings based on location or WiFi network amongst other things. This allowed me to me keep my phone unlocked at home while requiring fingerprint authentication everywhere else.

I love Shortcuts and have a ridiculous number of automations set up myself, but there’s a handful of things I genuinely need to automate that Apple simply won’t let me touch. The most glaring one? Location-based security policies. You could imagine a world where users choose between no barriers at home, biometrics when out and about, and a long password at protests or border crossings. It’s not a wild ask. It’s just basic threat modeling.

Apple could open up APIs to make this possible via Shortcuts automations. In addition, they could create sensible defaults and ask users about their preferences when upgrading to a new OS. I know there are complexity costs and geolocation is only so reliable so there are risks involved. But the risks of imperfect geolocation seem a lot more acceptable than the alternative: leaving users vulnerable to compelled unlocking at protests, airports, or anywhere else someone with a badge decides your face is the key to your entire digital life.

Apple has built its recent brand on privacy. They run TV spots about keeping your browsing data safe. They’ve position themselves as the antidote to Big Tech surveillance. And yet, when it comes to giving users the tools to actually protect themselves from state-level threats, Apple’s response is basically “hold down some buttons and hope for the best.” They could do better. If Apple genuinely believes privacy is a human right, exposing more control here could go a long way to walking that walk.

Where are all the “Don’t tread on me” Americans?

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From Chris Truax:

So is getting immigrant criminals off the street a justification for ICE’s behavior? Constitution says no. Of course, some immigrants are criminals who shouldn’t be on the streets. Some Americans are criminals who shouldn’t be on the streets either. Nonetheless, we have a Constitution that prevents police from roving those streets and demanding that people present their papers, or from breaking into someone’s house without probable cause and a warrant signed by a judge. Those rights don’t exist to protect criminals. They exist to protect innocent people. And it is innocent people who suffer when those rights are ignored, whether the government is hunting criminals or immigrants.

Concise, well written breakdown of what’s at stake here. No notes.

Texas and Florida Have Become National Models for Using the Police State To Wage Culture War Battles

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From C.J. Ciaramella at Reason Magazine:

This phenomenon started in the states, and none have pursued it with more intensity than Florida and Texas, where governors and legislatures have competed to show that they're fighting the hardest against what they call "woke" excess and leftist hegemony. Now this style of governance—using criminal law, mass surveillance, tip lines, and the threat of police violence to wage the culture war—is going national. This doesn't just implicate the freedom of trans people or high schoolers who want to read Toni Morrison; it's a danger to every American who wants to live, work, and travel without being monitored and menaced by the state.

You probably don’t need me to tell you how scary this stuff is if you play it out. For most of my adult life, conservative-leaning folks have told me how important “freedom” is, and slowly but surely we’ve seen what they actually mean by that. Freedom for them to live how they want, and for the rest of us to fall in line.

We’re watching the slow legislation of morality, where lawmakers use “values” as a cover for control. None of it is about protecting anyone – it’s about enforcing a single worldview. What’s worse is that most of these laws don’t even need to hold up in court to do damage. The vagueness is the point. People self-censor, schools and libraries overreact, and the chilling effect spreads quietly and efficiently.

This is not what freedom looks like. And it’s not an accident. We’ve allowed a warped definition of freedom to take hold, one that means “my comfort matters more than your rights.” Whether by design or by ignorance, it’s become the rallying cry of people who have been convinced that equality is an attack on their way of life.

I can’t help but think about how much of this has been fueled by media that profits off fear and outrage.Looking back over the past 25 years, it’s clear that FOX News & social media algorithms will be blamed for whatever state we end up in. They’ve trained people to see enemies around every corner. It’s poisoning our politics and our relationships, and it’s only getting worse because division keeps the clicks coming.

We have to start pushing back. Not in abstract ways or clever tweets, but through the simple blocking and tackling of democracy. Call your representatives – seriously, it’s easy and only takes a few minutes. Vote in local elections. Speak up when you see injustice or when government steps into places it doesn’t belong. Staying quiet because it feels hopeless is exactly what they’re counting on.

If we don’t draw the line now, we may wake up one day in a country that still calls itself free but no longer remembers what that word ever meant.