Sorry to attach on to such a small part of your comment. Why do you think having it attached to your phone is worse? In my understanding phones are WAY more secure than any run of the mill laptop or desktop due to a variety of security measures like sandboxing, encryption by default, and secure elements. If I came home to a break in I would be way less nervous about them swiping my phone than my desktop.

How expensive are drones? Way less expensive than a police officer. They can be deployed at scale. You can imagine a world where every move everyone makes is tracked. If you don't think public spaces hold any 4th amendment protections, they can also see much better into private property that police officers can't see from the street. Back yard, second story windows, all angles into windows, and that is only considering if they use regular cameras, imagine when they have thermal cameras or other sensors.

What does it cost a police force to abuse this technology? Maybe down the road they'll have to spend an afternoon in court explaining how they were just following orders or they were doing as directed by the department's policies at the time. What does it cost a citizen? Beyond the legal costs, it could cost their job when they don't show up because they were unjustly arrested, it could be a chilling effect on their speech when they see their politically active neighbor targeted.

I stand by my statement that nothing prevents the creep from happening. There is no realized cost to those who make it happen.

The problem with these types of tools are that they provide a foothold into absolute enforcement, not just for current laws you find reasonable, but for all future laws from all future administrations which may not be reasonable.

Why should these cameras used for speeding enforcement today be used to track down protesters the admin decides to label as terrorists or legal immigrants who attended a pro Palestine rally tomorrow? They shouldn't.

What would stop that from happening? Nothing.

How many judges hide their identity?

Judges and juries are at least superficially removed from that sort of corrupt incentive system.

The first is stupid. If there exists capacity to keep things private, why would I NOT want to have privacy? What is in it for me to let arbitrary others see everything I do and am?

The second so strange to hear. It is an argument for turning the slippery slope of privacy erosion that you try to resist into a waterslide that you should enthusiasticly throw yourself down.

Would moving domain registration into a public Blockchain allow for a more resilient and democratized internet?

I've recently started hiking and just generally going outside in my community more. When I relied on Google Maps I would get some random business highlighted when navigating around. Since I switched to Organic Maps I see trails, artwork, parks, scenic views, etc, etc that I never knew existed even in my own neighborhood. I also love the idea that if I find something not right on it I can just open up Open Street Map, make a simple edit, and improve the life of everyone else using the app that comes after me.

Just because they had permission before and after their actions took place doesn't make it ok if they didn't have permission at the time of the action. To say otherwise seems to be begging for abuse of a loophole. I guess that's why they had to claim the action wasn't one a warrant was required for...