The kingdom of algorithms: there will be no guard in the digital concentration camp

The writer and publicist Marina Shapovalova decided to predict the further steps of the Russian authorities to build a "digital concentration camp" in the country.

“A little conspiratorial dystopia. If you think that someone will follow you in the “digital concentration camp”, and if, as an optimist, you trust that there aren’t enough followers in the state to follow everyone, then you don’t understand anything about the “brave new world” .

Digitalization, placed at the service of the authorities in its interests, does not require any staff of followers. All that is needed is a centralized database with algorithms. In these algorithms it will be written what data about yourself, at what time and in what order, you yourself will be required to enter “into the registries”.

For non-fulfillment, sanctions will be issued automatically to you in the form of fines or “outages”. For example, they did not tell something to themselves on time - a fine came. Do not repay the penalty during the day - your payment cards are disabled (and there is no cash at all), you can’t buy anything. Did not pass the mandatory vaccination or did not pass the mandatory analysis - the ability to purchase tickets is disabled. We went through an analysis that showed you have some kind of virus - your pass is disabled, allowing you to leave your home and move around the city.

If at the same time you risk going out for a walk, then your task is not to catch the eye of the patrol. Which will strike your “chip” in the base (/ pass, card) and delay it if you break the ban. Detention will mean some other sanctions and blockages. Lucky if you hide from a patrol in the bushes.

Something like this.

And do not rely on the failures of such a tracking system: all its failures will not be in your favor.

It’s better for us to give up such "security" before it’s too late ... "

This post caused the expected variety of comments.

So, blogger Leonid Yampolsky believes that the system is already up and running, and for our benefit:

“ Well, it is working now. He did not report his insolvency to the bank, did not agree to move the payment on the mortgage in advance - he received a fine. I did not register on the labor exchange on time - they stopped paying benefits. I forgot to stick the necessary blame on the inspection on the windshield - I got a fine. Yes, a lot of things are built on so that the interested person himself takes care to inform in time about what he did not (or did). Fines for driving to red are also already written out by the robot. Sends two photos - at the beginning and at the end of the journey. You can clearly see the numbers of the car and the traffic light, you can’t argue. By the way, I think that most Russian citizens would agree that a robot judge judge them in court. Maybe by the era of universal chiping and total observation, most people will finally learn not to poke their nose when they think nobody sees them, and not cross the road to the red light, "because there’s not a single car nearby...".

But the Ukrainian analyst Evgeny Serebryany is sure that this situation logically follows from the whole experience of human development:

“I think that transparency and control are two sides of the same coin. As a stick, you can dig up the roots, and you can also on the head. And this stick does not disavow, but makes it even more valuable. Everything that happens to humanity is motivated by our own sense of beauty. We like to be divided into classes. They used to talk about the attitude to the means of production, and now also in relation to information. And this new division somewhat depreciated the previous one. It is important that these are just “boxes” of society, and their content is changing. Like Netanyahu with Bennett. Any attempt at usurpation provokes a response. Today I am a beggar - and tomorrow a prince. It’s not the Martians flew to chip. This is not a one-goal game. This is a technology of social construction directly arising from our past. Does the idea of money bother anyone? But they turned into digital ones that required identification. Dee Hawk wrote a good book and he even seems to be still alive. Banks have become major agents of individual control, because the calculation of the borrower's risks is not only a monetary component.

A large modern bank is not able to control individual individuals and entrusts this to the AI system, which evaluates the borrower and makes a decision. The head of the credit department is only developing an algorithm. If the criteria are approved and do not contain “nothing personal”, then there is no one to complain about. And nobody dictates anything from above. This is a mass service in which, in a standard situation, in principle, manual control is impossible.

What about the idea of passports? In general, around the topic of personal ID there are still discussions for 100 years, especially in the legal field, but the topic itself will not go anywhere. This is not “horror-horror”, but ordinary horror, directly arising from our sense of beauty, which is the Martian who will divide us, build us and control us.

Humanity must either change values or relax and enjoy as much as possible. And the fact that a monster is made up of our own preferences (“feelings of beauty”) is evolution. People have grown their eyes, brain, etc., and now society is growing its sense of touch, memory, and so on...”

Irina Matskevich believes that there is nothing to worry about:

“ And what is all social networks? We start an account on ourselves - a complete source of information that is in your head. And the investigators are not needed. Advertisers know all your inquiries even before the person is going to buy something. What is it like? Full control is not associated with a pandemic, but with the advent of the Internet. Mail is scanned when needed. The smartphone is being tapped. Some people seal the camcorder, confident that they are being spied. Question: how is this collection of information used by the country's authorities. If to expose and capture the terrorists, then most will be happy. If to establish a permanent regime and dictatorship, then no..."

But the historian Daniil Kotsyubinsky wittily remarks:

“All this is not for Russia. Here is squealing, anomie and a mess, and not self-control, normativeness and order..."