[jacquesm]

You are mistaking cause for effect. The loss of privacy is the goal, not a side effect, the rest is just a fig leaf.

[mindslight]

I generally try to think of things like this in terms of the natural incentives of systems, politicians, and well-meaning voters smoking hopeium. But now with the revelations of how insidious the Epstein class is, I have to wonder if the reason all these digital lockdowns are being shamelessly pushed with a simultaneous urgency is really just because of a giant fucking conspiracy. The common wisdom has always been that conspiracies naturally fall apart as they grow, succumbing to an increasing possibility of a defector. But I think that calculus might change when the members have all got mortal crimes hanging over their heads.

Never mind thinking about how legitimacy was laundered through scientific institutions, and extrapolating to wondering how much that same dynamic applies to "save the children" lobbying NGOs and whatnot.