Privacy Crap...
I imagine there are a few readers of this blog who are curious why I haven't yet commented on all this hype about the NSA and warrant-less wiretapping and the recording of phone calls and email / online conversations. Surely everyone has been going nuts about it, so what about me? I am just sitting back and chuckling.
Anyone naive enough to think that in this, today's most transparent government, where everything must remain a secret - that the government is not spying on its innocent civilians really needs a reality check (as an aside, if we, the civilians shouldn't be afraid to share our secrets with the government if we aren't doing anything wrong, why must the US Government keep everything secret? Are they doing something wrong behind those closed doors?). President Obama has been, from the start a two faced liar. I am all for the movement to impeach him, but I fear that the corruption flows much deeper. Likely into sectors of the government where the citizens voice can't touch people making the decisions.
As I have mentioned before, there are huge data centers in many American cities, specifically for recording calls and network traffic. Sure no one may be listening to those calls, but as No Agenda clearly points out, in today's day and age, a wiretapping warrant is sufficient enough to go back into the archive and access all previous calls made before the warrant was issued.
And yeah, we kinda figured the NSA was watching Facebook and basically any other site with more then 10,000 members which is hosted in the USA. In fact that was in print, and earlier this year Obama issued an executive order to deputize key figures in large private communications companies, in order to better facilitate the exchange of information about 'cyber threats' (which could be as open ended as the word terrorist) between the private companies and the government. So it is quite bullshit that the key figures in these larger companies like Verizon and Facebook did not know that this was going on. Tho I imagine the deputization did come with some oath swearing I imagine to protect them and the information they were passing along.
I am quite shocked that the news actually picked up on this, and that they were not told to keep it hush hush like many of the other scandals that have been going on surrounding President Obama.
There are those who will suggest that people shouldn't be afraid of their government watching them if they are not doing anything wrong. Okay, I suppose you have a slightly valid point. But what about your principles? Sure in China, you would expect the oppressive government to spy on you in order to ensure you are staying in line. Likewise the police state of America is heading the same direction. Is it fun to live in a police state? I would think not. I believe that America was founded on principles set up to avoid such a thing from happening. The land of the free. Home of the brave. How much do you really value your constitution? OR do you feel that it is outdated? I for one, even being a Canadian, can say that I feel the American Constitution is one of the most powerful and sacred documents in the modern world. I would argue that it is one of the main founding points of a just and true government run by the people, for the people.
The problem is that the Constitution has been under attack for some time. Especially in regards to the right to bear arms and other aspects related to our privacy. That is because those aspects do not fit the scheme of a police state, and the powers that be have been trying to focus negative attention on those portions of our beloved Constitution in order to try to tear it apart once and for all. But it is that document which built this nation.
If principles aren't your thing, think about this. You are a young adult who is dating another young adult. Things seem to be going well. Your dates father works for the federal government at a local branch of a three letter agency. Something happens in the relationship and a misunderstanding causes you to break up with them, or vise verse. They claim that you hurt their feelings and then daddy gets the urge to investigate into your background. He gets a warrant based on suspicion that you may be into drugs and goes back into your records to find all the network of friends that you have, and finds that perhaps some of them have also been flagged for drug violations in the past. You haven't however, but this opens up a can of worms. Now you are going to be watched and spied upon, and any wrong move you make, or any questionable move you made in the past can be brought out of the woodwork against you. Not only that, but this will likely show up in a classified record against your name, and may cause you to have more frequent traffic stops and more hassles at the border.
Sure the idea seems far fetched, but believe me, it does happen. The people involved may never even know this happened to them, but they may wonder why all the sudden they seem to be getting pulled over more often. Nothing may come from it, but especially if you have made mistakes in the past, something may come of it.
Lets face it, no one is perfect. Those who maybe squeaky clean must live really boring lives. In any case, there is usually always some dirt, somewhere which could be turned around to frame you as a bad man. I myself generally don't hide much about me. Heck I recently posted this nude photo on twitter in response to someone arguing about this topic suggesting they had nothing to hide. I don't either, but there are principles and deeper ramifications to this type of invasive government intelligence gathering that may falsely label many innocent people as potential criminals. Heck, empty beer bottles, some rags laying nearby, and a can of gasoline in the shed is enough in this day and age to report to the media that a suspected terrorist was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. I am not kidding folks.
So alas, I sit back and chuckle, watching the dust rise. I wonder what will happen. Will society overturn the government. Or will the government step up its efforts even more so and crush society under its mighty weight? I am thinking the latter. The police state, and the new world order are already so far gone. There is so much cushion in the government today that the people responsible hide behind several three letter agencies to redirect blame to, meanwhile life goes on and the laws remain the same or get stricter.