In the lead-up to Australia's metadata retention legislation, some org posted the following examples. I found them reasonably effective at convincing normal people, but we failed to convince the decision-makers in Parliament:
- "What if your call logs indicated a 45-minute call to a suicide hotline made from a bridge. Do they need to hear exactly what was said?"
- "What if your call logs showed you receiving a call from a sexual health clinic, and that you then called a bunch of people in rapid succession. Do they need to hear exactly what was said?"
I think the lynchpin is not knowing. We don't know what all the data is used for or why it's taken. As long as we don't know we lack the ability to judge. We don't have the power to make a strong rhetorical argument without shared knowledge.
Colbert's white house correspondent's address covered it. Politicians don't talk about super depressing stuff like guantonomo bay and journalists have the courtesy to not try and find out.. We don't talk about data collection in any serious manner.
I think the weakness of data collection is when it gets in the average joe's way and it hasn't done that yet in a big way. The more we hammer home that it must facilitate movement through life and not hinder it, the better the middle ground will be.. maybe.
There is a requirement that both sides get really good at eviscerating lies and liars. Neither side of the fence wants fake data or betrayal.
- "What if your call logs indicated a 45-minute call to a suicide hotline made from a bridge. Do they need to hear exactly what was said?"
- "What if your call logs showed you receiving a call from a sexual health clinic, and that you then called a bunch of people in rapid succession. Do they need to hear exactly what was said?"