JeffBC
Posts: 5799
Joined: 2/12/2012 From: Canada Status: offline
|
This is not the first time some state has decided they needed such surveillance. It's happened before. In point of fact I posted a fascinating link in that other thread but I'll post it here too.... This is a story from a young man moved from one of the Arab Spring countries and now resident in the US. http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/1fv4r6/i_believe_the_government_should_be_allowed_to/caeb3pl?context=3 I think one of the most chilling things was the author pointing out that "safety" and "protection" are ALWAYS the reasons governments say they needs this stuff and history reveals that is never true. You want to know why revolutions happen? Because little by little by little things get worse and worse. But this thing that is happening now is big. This is the key ingredient. This allows them to know everything they need to know to accomplish the above. The fact that they are doing it is proof that they are the sort of people who might use it in the way I described. In the country I live in, they also claimed it was for the safety of the people. Same in Soviet Russia. Same in East Germany. In fact, that is always the excuse that is used to surveil everyone. But it has never ONCE proven to be the reality. There's a lot of other fascinating stuff in that link for those willing to consider the possibility that this might be the voice of experience rather than a voice of muslim hatred of America. Honestly, the writer doesn't sound like he hates America all that much. Note that the author declares anyone wishing to create such a system de-facto proof that they are untrustworthy to have it. I agree. The author also notes that once the system is created, you need to trust ALL future leaders through time. Maybe Obama (the guy who built it) isn't such a bad guy. Maybe the next president isn't. But we all know that sooner or later that streak will end. Do we dump this on our kids? You know, if it was simply PRISM I'd be alarmed. But it isn't. It's PRISM, Stellar Wind, Argus Drones, Court ordered call tracking for the entire country, and the list goes on. In other words there is a vast and almost entirely secret campaign to massively increase the ability of the US government to spy on us. Why? And honestly.... even if you don't care about privacy, freedom and the like... how about the cost? I'm here to tell you this sort of tech isn't coming cheap. This is like yet another massive, wasteful war on terror... except this time the terrorists are US.
_____________________________
I'm a lover of "what is", not because I'm a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality. -- Bryon Katie "You're humbly arrogant" -- sunshinemiss officially a member of the K Crowd
|