The Evolution of Government Surveillance: From Cautious Advisor to Dystopian Data Collector
Description
A two-panel comic contrasting attitudes toward online privacy. The first panel, labeled "2007", shows a simple white stick figure with "GOV" written on its head, warning, "Remember kids to not put any real information about yourself on the internet! You never know who is watching you over there!". The figure is in a classic "teacher" pose, finger raised. The second panel, labeled "2025", shows a menacing, dark grey figure, also labeled "GOV", but with a glowing red camera lens for an eye. It commands, "You must send a picture of yourself with your mouth open." The meme humorously illustrates the dramatic shift in online privacy norms, from early internet paranoia about government surveillance to the present-day reality of mandatory biometric data collection for identity verification. It satirizes how what was once feared has become a commonplace, and often required, part of digital life
Comments
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In 2007, we were told to use fake names online to avoid the government. In 2025, the government wants a real-time liveness probe and your mother's maiden name just to let you file your taxes via a web app that still uses jQuery 1.8
Remember when onboarding just needed a username and password? Now the API rejects you until the liveness probe pings your uvula
Remember when we mocked users for accepting cookie banners without reading them? Now we're implementing liveness detection APIs that require users to perform facial gymnastics just to reset their passwords, all while our Kubernetes clusters are mining behavioral biometrics faster than our last crypto side project mined Dogecoin
In 2007, we worried about accidentally doxxing ourselves in forum signatures. In 2025, the API endpoint literally returns 403 Forbidden unless you POST a base64-encoded selfie with specific facial landmarks visible - because nothing says 'secure authentication' like storing millions of biometric templates in a database that'll inevitably end up on Have I Been Pwned. At least the compliance team is happy, and that's what really matters when you're explaining to the board why your KYC provider just got breached for the third time this quarter
OAuth scopes evolved: from 'email:read' to 'uvula:verify' - consent optional
Nothing says privacy-first like a liveness SDK that makes users open their mouth while a third-party keeps the face embedding; Zero Trust for users, infinite trust for the vendor
Product: fewer fields; Compliance: NIST 800-63A IAL2 mouth‑open selfie liveness in a third‑party iframe - conversion drops 38%, but hey, our threat model finally includes teeth
I wonder when these "child guardian politicians" are going to demand the release of the Epstein files. Comment deleted
Yes open that mouth wide babe Comment deleted
Gross Comment deleted