People are monitored without knowing it by security cameras and mostly by their own devices. This thesis argues that technology serves secret surveilance which is detrimental to individual freedom.
Governments track people to ensure their safety. This is because, drug cartels and smuggling networks outpace states resources with their foolproof encryption communication systems. As a result, states should access to those secure apps to prevent malicious attacks. For instance, the CIA infiltrates during months the most secure phone used by criminals : Anom. They have access in the same time to legitimate but private information that give them power.
Too much power is in the hands of a handful of people. Admittedly, governments are well-intentioned and their only purpose is the safety and the security of their citizens. However, private interests are deeply connected with politics, as revealed the Epstein case. Therefore, the data collected by tech-savvy companies often sell to data brokers may hand up in the hands the governement that could use them to restrain liberties to make a profit. For instance, in New Zealand, insurances have access to people DNA records, therefore if a person has genetic predispositions to have cancer, the insurance company will not insure this person. Furthermore, by acquiring enough digital data, those groups can outpace the concurrence and become a monopole. For example, in technology, Qualcomm owns a monopoly on 4G/5G chips and robs every phone maker, Apple included and also the consummer.
Overall, technology leaves individuals weaker than states to counterbalance the power. Open-source software can help them to regain power.