Vectors of Authoritarianism
Vectors of Authoritarianism
Tuesday 3H
Convener: John Wunderlich
Notes-taker(s): John Wunderlich
Tags for the session - technology discussed/ideas considered:
Discussion notes, key understandings, outstanding questions, observations, and, if appropriate to this discussion: action items, next steps:
Authoritarians want to know:
- Where you are?
- What you are doing?
- Who you are meeting?
- What are you thinking?
- How can we manipulate your behavior?
All of this is related to identity, so how do we identify identity solutions and policies that will fail towards digital autonomy instead of authoritarianism
The Zoom Chat:
From Jeff Orgel to Everyone: (03:32 PM) Authoritarianism - What are the vectors?
From Me to Everyone: (03:34 PM) How to build a Digital identity System that fails to digital autonomy and not authoritarian Issues of control. Who encrypts, who controls?
From Jeff Orgel to Everyone: (03:36 PM) How can enabling a globally intrusive tool not be too intrusive and fails to digital autonomy? Iss this SSI & DIDs doing there thing?! …doing "their" thing? From Lawrence Liu to Everyone: (03:37 PM) Plus there is also the other party called “HACKERS” that will take over the data or system
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (03:37 PM) BLTS= Business, Legal, Technical, Social
From Me to Everyone: (03:39 PM) How do you create a social commons Responsible people don’t need rules
From Jeff Orgel to Everyone: (03:40 PM) Culture shifts optics on what is funny or not. Will it have the same reshaping of our opinion authoritative invasiveness?
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (03:41 PM) One of the challenges with authoritarian systems is that when the “Legal” vector is no longer usable, what do you do? What happens when the rule of law is not honored by authoritarians?
From Jeff Orgel to Everyone: (03:43 PM) Isn't there orthogonal balance.
From Me to Everyone: (03:44 PM) Every solution space will have a cost. How to evaluate? Surveillance and predation go together. OK with things for a short period of time or a particular context.
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (03:49 PM) Two design vectors:
From Me to Everyone: (03:49 PM) Game theoretic dynamics of disclosure in different contexts
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (03:49 PM) 1) Permanence of digital records
From Me to Everyone: (03:49 PM) Controls need to be at the point of collection. Contact Tracing therefore needs to be voluntary.
From Dan DuBeau to Everyone: (03:51 PM) The challenge, I think, is around transparency and accountability. Is it reasonable to allow governments to gather information in support of their charter so long as they are held accountable for breaking the rules? If they overstep authority, the most important thing is to know that it happened. I feel the problem starts here. Most of the time, we don't even know it's happened.
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (03:52 PM) 2) Dangers and game theoretic dynamics of levels of identity (anonymous, pseudonymous, real, etc.) in identity disclosure when cost of disclosure could be one’s life
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (03:54 PM) Where is best focus point for control: point of collection vs. point of use?
From Jeff Orgel to Everyone: (03:54 PM) When the target of surveillance is resident in an individual (virus) the hunt occurs in the realm of the individual. That realm is well seeded by digital connectivity and footprints at easier picking than analog detective work.
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (03:55 PM) Chilling effect of surveillance is integral to discussion of point of collection awareness and control
From Me to Everyone: (03:59 PM) Transparency and Governance are important factors. How do you build a Digital identity system that allows a person to use their digital identity to dissent against the state?
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (04:00 PM) Need to build systems that support “illegal” activity under an authoritarian government, so individuals can organize and act against the government
From Jeff Orgel to Everyone: (04:01 PM) How do you design something that allows people to push back vs your authoritarian government and still feel safe? - JW
From Me to Everyone: (04:01 PM) Distinguish between identity systems and identification systems?
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (04:01 PM) But how do you build systems that support this positive “illegal” activity, but still combat truly negative “criminal” activity?
From dsearls to Everyone: (04:02 PM) I just showed up, so I don't have anything to say.
From Me to Everyone: (04:03 PM) How to build fail-safes into systems.
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (04:08 PM) Encryption in the hands of individuals has the potential to provide some defense against the intrusion of authoritarian governments into individuals’ personal data and identity.
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (04:09 PM) Question of who holds the keys to the encrypted data is a major control point in systems.
From Jeff Orgel to Everyone: (04:10 PM) Governenace is as much a part of the check list as well - Johannes
From dsearls to Everyone: (04:11 PM) JW: SGTF: Social Graph Transfer Protocol.
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (04:11 PM) Problem of “governance” of systems under authoritarian governments is that the “governance” can be a mechanism of authoritarian control and/or untrustworthy.
From dsearls to Everyone: (04:11 PM) I need to run out. Drat.
From Will Abramson to Everyone: (04:11 PM) http://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/ https://indieweb.org/
From Me to Everyone: (04:15 PM) What if the governance is malignant? Maybe the BLTS framework doesn’t work in a kakistocracy One of the identifiable vectors is arbitrary governance.
From Jeff Orgel to Everyone: (04:17 PM) Cell towers withstand violence as a totem to "common good".
From Brian Behlendorf to Everyone: (04:18 PM) Kakitastrophe is a disaster caused by governance by the worst people.
From dsearls to Everyone: (04:18 PM) Back.
From Brian Behlendorf to Everyone: (04:18 PM) Here in the US we just call that "Tuesday"
From Jeff Orgel to Everyone: (04:18 PM) Inflexibility and binary sorting as a vector?
From Me to Everyone: (04:19 PM) Another vector might be binary or simplistic categorization of people or groups.
From Jacob Siebach to Everyone: (04:20 PM) What is the question about poles?
From Me to Everyone: (04:24 PM) Othering is a vector of authoritarianism
From Lawrence Liu to Everyone: (04:24 PM) China is not authoritarian
From PhilWolff to Everyone: (04:24 PM) (hashtag)OaaS (Othering as a Service)
From Me to Everyone: (04:27 PM) Excellent book: The 5,000 year leap
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (04:27 PM) Another vector of authoritarianism is the destruction of shared epistemic frameworks based on rationality or truth and the ability to shape discourse and what counts as a fact as needed by the authoritarian power (cf. Orwell’s 1984).
From PhilWolff to Everyone: (04:29 PM) Treated Equally Under the UX,
From dsearls to Everyone: (04:30 PM) A useful book here is George Lakoff's Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think: http://www.amazon.com/Moral-Politics-Liberals-Conservatives-Think/dp/0226467716
From Jacob Siebach to Everyone: (04:31 PM) Read "The Law" by Fredric Bastiat.
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (04:31 PM) Ditto on George Lakoff!
From PhilWolff to Everyone: (04:32 PM) Authoritarianism creeps in when marginalized populations are not included in the design of its laws, systems, institutions.
From Me to Everyone: (04:33 PM) Maybe one of the indicia of a move to authoritarianism is if any one of the “Four Freedoms” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms
From dsearls to Everyone: (04:37 PM) By the way, the founders were not of one mind on religion. They tipped their collective hats to God, but were clear about separation of church and state, of freedom of religion, and, as Jefferson put it, "that our civil rights have no dependence on religious opinions."
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (04:37 PM) In an authoritarian system, the “law” cannot be relied on to be fair or a framework for opposition to state power.
From Jacob Siebach to Everyone: (04:37 PM) Incorrect: they were very FOR the worship of God in government. Franklin was the one that said Congress should always start with prayer.
From Me to Everyone: (04:38 PM) Do Not Rely on Governance if you want to be authorian proof.
From Jacob Siebach to Everyone: (04:38 PM) Jefferson's letter about "church and state" was written to tell someone that the government would NOT stop their right to worship.
From dsearls to Everyone: (04:39 PM) Can we agree, Jacob, that they were not of one mind about a particular religion, but were at least of one mind about the freedom to have or not have one, personally?
From Jacob Siebach to Everyone: (04:40 PM) Oh, absolutely!
From dsearls to Everyone: (04:40 PM) There is no normal intelligence.
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (04:40 PM) In an authoritarian context we cannot assume that other people or organizations are trustworthy.
From dsearls to Everyone: (04:40 PM) Sorry to be so disagreeable. :-)
From Jacob Siebach to Everyone: (04:40 PM) Heh.
From Jacob Siebach to Everyone: (04:41 PM) The nice thing about IIW is that we can have discussions without secret police taking us all away.
From Me to Everyone: (04:41 PM) +1 Jacob If the system depends on educated or trained users, it’s a potential vector
From dsearls to Everyone: (04:43 PM) Before this thing is over I want to hear Justin play one or more of all those guitars.
From Jacob Siebach to Everyone: (04:43 PM) And then Jeff can put it on that record behind him.
From Me to Everyone: (04:43 PM) Trust but verify doesn’t work. Have to start with a non-trusted relationship assumption.
From Marc Davis to Everyone: (04:44 PM) Thank you John!
From AriDiMatteo to Everyone: (04:44 PM) Thank you!
