# Privacy: The Wrong Focus ## The Framing Problem When people discuss corporate and government surveillance, the conversation usually lands on privacy. Privacy matters, and people have a right to it, but it is not the core problem. Privacy is the surface issue. The deeper issue is control. ## Surveillance Is About Control Ad networks track large parts of your online life to deliver targeted adverts. Mobile networks and major platforms can infer where you are, where you have been, and who you spend time with. Streaming services can map your habits over years. Once organisations hold enough information, they can shape what you see, what you pay, what choices appear available, and what risks you carry. ## How Control Works in Practice This is about power over people, not only abstract rights. At scale, data lets institutions build social graphs, identify associates, and widen investigations from one person to many. The same machinery works commercially: if a company can predict your preferences, urgency, or vulnerability, it can tune pricing, offers, and pressure accordingly. The language is convenience, safety, and personalisation, but the power largely flows one way. ## Corporate Surveillance: Concrete Cases This is not hypothetical. In 2019, the US Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook \$5 billion for deceiving users about privacy controls and third-party data sharing [1]. In April 2024, the FTC finalised an order against X-Mode and successor Outlogic, prohibiting sale and sharing of sensitive location data, including visits to medical facilities and places of worship [2]. In 2023, the FTC said Ring allowed broad employee and contractor access to customer videos and failed to prevent account takeovers affecting around 55,000 users [3]. ## Cloud Lock-In and Device Power Control also appears at the device level. If your product depends on one company’s cloud, that company decides what keeps working, what features are restricted, and when hardware effectively reaches end-of-life. Google ended support for Nest Secure on 8 April 2024, after which devices were no longer accessible in the Nest app [6]. When you cannot install your own tools or software, you do not fully control a device you paid for. ## When Corporate Systems Meet State Power The Ring case also shows how corporate surveillance can intersect with state access. Ring’s law-enforcement guidelines allow emergency disclosures without user consent in urgent cases [4], and Senator Markey reported that Ring had already provided footage without consent 11 times in 2022 [5]. This is the practical meaning of always-on private infrastructure: systems sold as convenience can become channels for policing and monitoring. ## The State-Level Scale Problem At state level, the same logic scales further. The US government formally ended the NSA’s bulk telephony metadata collection under Section 215 on 29 November 2015, confirming that this kind of mass collection had existed in practice [7]. In liberal democracies, oversight can limit some abuses. In authoritarian systems, limits are weaker or absent, and consequences can include imprisonment, disappearance, or death. ## The AI Scale Problem With AI the logic scales to a apocalyptic level. A very small number of humans would be able to implement a surveillance program run by AI agents that can flag content and individuals very easily. With advancement in robotics, human enforcement would no longer be required, giving that handful of extremely powerful individuals direct control over every human in their sphere of influence. ## Not “They Always Will”, But “They Can” The claim is not that every company or government will abuse these powers every time. The claim is that they can, and history shows some do, to the extent of mass-deportation, of genocide, of holocaust. ## Conclusion: Build for Limits on Power Once surveillance infrastructure exists, trust and even law is not enough protection. Safety can only come from limits on concentrated power, even if that results in less day-to-day safety. ## Sources [1]: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/07/ftc-imposes-5-billion-penalty-sweeping-new-privacy-restrictions-facebook [2]: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-finalizes-order-x-mode-successor-outlogic-prohibiting-it-sharing-or-selling-sensitive-location [3]: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/05/ftc-says-ring-employees-illegally-surveilled-customers-failed-stop-hackers-taking-control-users [4]: https://ring.com/support/articles/oi8t6/Learn-About-Ring-Law-Enforcement-Guidelines [5]: https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-markeys-probe-into-amazon-ring-reveals-new-privacy-problems [6]: https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Blog/Final-Reminder-Support-for-Dropcam-Dropcam-Pro-and-Nest-Secure-ends-on/ba-p/610725 [7]: https://www.intelligence.gov/ic-on-the-record-database/results/fact-sheet/fact-sheet-implementation-of-the-usa-freedom-act-of-2015