would governments be able to surveil everyone? (Is it practial?)
The GDR has done it.
There were no computers at that time. All mail was physical. They did not surveil really everyone, but many targeted people, and presumably all letters from/to the West.
Today with strong computers and AI to scan through all texts, even hand writing, it would be feasable to do even more than that.
I mean, GDR is one tiny country but that goes for both sides of the equation. China would be able to surveil mail with the full resources of the Chinese government.
The GDR has done it.
There were no computers at that time. All mail was physical. They did not surveil really everyone, but many targeted people, and presumably all letters from/to the West.
Today with strong computers and AI to scan through all texts, even hand writing, it would be feasable to do even more than that.
GDR is one tiny country.
Imagine every Chinese or every Indian started writing physical mail.
I mean, GDR is one tiny country but that goes for both sides of the equation. China would be able to surveil mail with the full resources of the Chinese government.
GDR is one tiny country so their surveillance apparatus was smaller too. China is big so they can have a bigger apparatus.
At 3 billion people, I imagine paper companies would be jumping for joy.
But yeah, that sounds like it’d be a bastard to surveil.
In a large country, the percentage of mail that crosses their border is much lower than in a small country.