America wants five years of your social media before you visit. I followed it to Five Eyes, a 1946 alliance kept secret for 64 years.

Five years of your social media just to visit the US on an ESTA, and 50,922 phone searches at the border in a single year with no suspicion needed. Part 1 of my Five Eyes series: who else gets to see it?

  • FishFace@piefed.socialEnglish
    1·
    6 hours ago

    I’ve already explained I think there’s a big difference between a chance of being searched at an airport and a chance of being observed at any moment while imprisoned and I’m not sure what else might be unclear.

    The definition of a panopticon is not “a small chance of being searched”, just to be clear. It’s a specific thing and you’re saying it’s similar while I’m saying it’s different enough.

    • XLE@piefed.socialEnglish
      1·
      3 hours ago

      You might want to take a quick look at Wikipedia, because you are trying to use inaccurate distinctions.

      while imprisoned

      No, it’s not placed in a prison, it’s about the structure of a surveillance society.

      • FishFace@piefed.socialEnglish
        1·
        1 hour ago

        From the first paragraph:

        The panopticon is a design of institutional building with an inbuilt system of control, originated by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The concept is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be observed by a single prison officer, without the inmates knowing whether or not they are being watched.

        (emphasis mine)

        Bentham designed the Panopticon as a prison. It sounds like you’re using the word as a metaphor.

        I don’t think such a metaphorical usage is that great in this case. It works OK when you’re talking about big-brother style surveillance that is potentially present in your private life at all times (like the panopticon’s guard can potentially see any one inmate’s private activity at any time) but not when you’re talking about potentially being searched in a specific, limited, avoidable, circumventable circumstance.