'Coldplay Kiss-Cam Flap Proves We're Already Our Own Surveillance State' (theregister.com)
(Friday July 18, 2025 @05:50PM (BeauHD)
from the hardly-a-new-phenomenon dept.)
- Reference: 0178412976
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/07/18/2041236/coldplay-kiss-cam-flap-proves-were-already-our-own-surveillance-state
- Source link: https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/18/coldplay_kiss_cam_privacy/
Brandon Vigliarolo writes via The Register:
> A tech executive's alleged affair exposed on a stadium jumbotron is ripe fodder for the gossip rags, but it exhibits something else: proof that we need not wait for an AI-fueled dystopian surveillance state to descend on us -- [1]we're perfectly able and willing to surveil ourselves . The [2]embracing couple caught at a Coldplay concert this week as the jumbotron camera panned around the audience would have been another unremarkable clip, if not for the pair panicking and rushing to hide, triggering attendees to publish the memorable moment on social media. "Either they're having an affair or they're very shy," Coldplay singer Chris Martin said of the pair's reaction.
>
> As is always the case when viral moments of unknown people get uploaded to the internet, they didn't remain anonymous for long, with the internet quickly identifying them as the CEO of data infrastructure outfit Astronomer, Andy Byron, and its Chief People Officer, Kristin Cabot. We're not going to weigh in on Byron's, who internet sleuths have [3]determined is married (for now), or Cabot's behavior - making someone pay for the moral transgression of an alleged extramarital affair may be enough reason for the internet to go on a witch hunt, but that's not our concern here.
>
> What's worrying is what this moment says - yet again - about us as a society: We have cameras everywhere, our personal data has become one of the most valuable commodities in the world, and we're all perpetually ready to use that tech to make those we feel have violated the social contract pay publicly for their transgressions. This is hardly a new phenomenon. [...] There's really no reason to set up an expensive and oppressive surveillance state when we all have location tracking, internet-connected shaming machines in our pockets. Big tech gave us the tools of our own surveillance, and as "ColdplayGate" shows yet again, we'll keep using those tools if they'll make us feel better about ourselves - especially if someone else gets knocked down a peg in the process.
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/18/coldplay_kiss_cam_privacy/
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jul/18/couple-caught-coldplay-kiss-cam-affair-very-shy
[3] https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/astronomer-ceo-andy-byron-wife-222557843.html
> A tech executive's alleged affair exposed on a stadium jumbotron is ripe fodder for the gossip rags, but it exhibits something else: proof that we need not wait for an AI-fueled dystopian surveillance state to descend on us -- [1]we're perfectly able and willing to surveil ourselves . The [2]embracing couple caught at a Coldplay concert this week as the jumbotron camera panned around the audience would have been another unremarkable clip, if not for the pair panicking and rushing to hide, triggering attendees to publish the memorable moment on social media. "Either they're having an affair or they're very shy," Coldplay singer Chris Martin said of the pair's reaction.
>
> As is always the case when viral moments of unknown people get uploaded to the internet, they didn't remain anonymous for long, with the internet quickly identifying them as the CEO of data infrastructure outfit Astronomer, Andy Byron, and its Chief People Officer, Kristin Cabot. We're not going to weigh in on Byron's, who internet sleuths have [3]determined is married (for now), or Cabot's behavior - making someone pay for the moral transgression of an alleged extramarital affair may be enough reason for the internet to go on a witch hunt, but that's not our concern here.
>
> What's worrying is what this moment says - yet again - about us as a society: We have cameras everywhere, our personal data has become one of the most valuable commodities in the world, and we're all perpetually ready to use that tech to make those we feel have violated the social contract pay publicly for their transgressions. This is hardly a new phenomenon. [...] There's really no reason to set up an expensive and oppressive surveillance state when we all have location tracking, internet-connected shaming machines in our pockets. Big tech gave us the tools of our own surveillance, and as "ColdplayGate" shows yet again, we'll keep using those tools if they'll make us feel better about ourselves - especially if someone else gets knocked down a peg in the process.
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/18/coldplay_kiss_cam_privacy/
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jul/18/couple-caught-coldplay-kiss-cam-affair-very-shy
[3] https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/astronomer-ceo-andy-byron-wife-222557843.html
Bad example (Score:2)
Jumbotron "kisses" have been around for decades. I'd be far more concerned if that kiss was from a street corner cam, or ring cam.