It feels icky, and my default is not to side with megacorps engaged in blanket surveillance, but I can’t really fault Anthropic here. The correct setup should be a law that protects this sort of interaction with a chat bot as privileged, along the lines of HIPAA-mode. Use a classifier or some sort of “private mode” toggle to tell the platform you’re engaging in privileged communication ala dear diary, and then a much higher legal standard needs to apply to protecting that data (no training, same protections as doctor / psychologist interactions). Even a therapist has a legal duty-to-report in certain situations.

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Gigachad 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I’m going to guess that planning a mass shooting clears any hurdle that would be in place here.

While the privacy around ai chatbots is rotten in general, I can’t fault anyone who reported this.

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Aeolun 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Maybe not one that reported it, but the ‘we scan every message you sent into this for disallowed speech’ part is what gives me pause.

They shouldn’t be in a position to report it at all.

	▲	Gigachad 40 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Yes in general I don't like that everything you do on a computer is sent to some 3rd party to scan. But the moment they did receive this message it's clear the only right move is to act on it.

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Rover222 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Is it really "blanket surveillance" when it only sees exactly what you put into it? That's like saying you're being filmed against your will while... filming yourself.

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pixelready 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I get where you’re coming from, but I think if the progression of technology has shown us anything, it’s that there will be constant competitive and social pressures being applied to use these tools more and more and that pressure will race far ahead of any privacy, consumer protections, public education and societal wellbeing counter forces. So opt-out ends up being a rapidly shrinking iceberg in practice.

	▲	cheschire an hour ago \| parent [-]
		"slippery slope" is an old phrase for a reason.

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threecheese 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Counterpoint, if you give the agent access to your files - which happens to include the Notepad diary you've been writing since your teens - and it makes a similar conclusion about something you privately wrote, would have the same opinion?

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Spivak 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes, and it's weird that on a form of technologists we're going with the idea that all of these systems we use every day to hold our personal private information that we are constantly ensured is secured against anyone unauthorized from accessing it is actually snitching to the cops just because someone else is hosting it on our behalf.

The 3rd Party Doctrine destroyed the 4th amendment and is the reason privacy respecting software has to play legal games. E2EE while a good security practice shouldn't be necessary to protect you against the cops rummaging around your stuff. The bar to establish that information is private shouldn't be "literally mathematically inaccessible but the cops are still allowed to try."