Peter Todd @pete@petertodd.org

@harding @verretor And you are very wrong, because the extra data they get out of it is both much higher quality and higher value.

I'm sorry, but you are making a terrible argument that will get people hurt.

@verretor @harding That absolutely would be a selling point for a system with central logging. No doubt about it.

@verretor @harding Thing is to do a privacy protecting version you need two signatures. Which makes the QR code bigger. No one wants to do that as QR code reliability drops quickly with size.

@harding @verretor Well that's a very silly way to look at it. The 1% of the time when you really need the privacy matters.

I leave GPS tracking _on_ in my phone. But the fact I can turn it off is so important.

@harding @verretor Normal people turn their phones off you know... Right there that's a big k-anonymity set.

It's also very helpful to have intermediaries between govt and the data. The fact that government is directly running these tracking databases is a huge problem.

@harding @verretor Again, this gets back to the fact that mandatory surveillance with no way to avoid it is much worse.

And I don't think you realize how bad this gets... Singapore among other places has trace and trace readers at entrances to even outdoor public parks.

@harding @verretor It's a _huge_ difference if there is no way to turn it off. Absolutely massive.

Also, passive phone surveillance based on cell towers is pretty low accuracy. It can't tell what buildings you're actually in in most cases, and is often off by kilometers. Vaccine passports are much more precise.

@dflate Because we have lots of tech to do DNA analysis and not much that does smell analysis.

@harding @verretor I remember telling to some cryptography types a year ago that trying to implement vaccine passports and track and trace with privacy protecting crypto was counterproductive because you'd just end up legitimizing the invasive tech that would inevitably get implemented anyway.

@waxwing "this isn't a comedy, this is a documentary"

DNA pulled from thin air identifies nearby animals | Science | AAAS
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/07/dna-pulled-thin-air-identifies-nearby-animals

So how long until this gets used to track people?

Highways England may have to reverse act of ‘cultural vandalism’ | Heritage | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jul/21/highways-england-may-have-to-reverse-act-of-cultural-vandalism

Gotta agree with the headline. Holy hell the infill looks ugly.

"It is pushing alongside HE’s stifling culture of risk aversion and lack of understanding of historical railway structures."

Risk aversion may actually be a really good explanation for how this happens. And probably related to the insanity we've seen around covid.

@orangepillme ...but the dinosaur was wearing a mask! That means they're super protected!!!

"U.S. border restrictions for Canada, Mexico renewed until Aug. 21"

Remember that these restrictions _only_ apply to the land borders. Air travel has been exempt from the essential travel restrictions the whole time; COVID-19 knows not to infect people rich enough to fly in.

It's just science.

Canadian veterans pay out of pocket to rescue their Afghan comrades ‘stranded’ in war zone: ‘It’s the right thing to do’ | The Star
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/07/20/canadian-military-vets-are-using-their-own-money-to-rescue-afghan-interpreters-as-pleas-for-help-from-ottawa-continue.html

"Due to the daily limits put on the amount each person can transfer, Rickards said the veterans had to solicit help from their families and friends to wire money."

I think we all know what fixes this...