According to polling information, most Americans appear to be shrugging off this sort of thing. The reasoning for this, or so it is speculated, is that were all already used to dealing with private companies collecting our information. Actually, Im used to it, too. I mean, I dont like it, and it strikes me that such data collection is easily abused, but Im definitely used to it. But this strikes me as something different. For one thing, the potential for abuse is MUCH higher with a government entity than with companies with whom we do business; for instance, I know that law enforcement agencies and prosecutors have already been trying to get access to information collected by the NSA, for which they would almost always need a warrant otherwise. And the old if youve got nothing to hide, it shouldnt bother you concept doesnt provide much solace: cops dont try to ascertain the truth; rather, they try to make cases, and when your life is an open book, disparate facts and pieces of information can easily be strung together in creative ways, as with reality television programs, to assemble narratives that dont actually exist in real life. What REALLY disturbs me, however, is that this information taken from non-targeted US citizens is, according to the article, cataloged and recorded. That is, the NSA is assembling files on everyone who crosses their path. And thats an ever increasing number of Americans, all of whom did nothing more than end up in the Agencys enormous net. Needless to say, this reeks of Orwells 1984, of police states, and military dictatorships. Why does our government need to have files on regular ordinary Americans? I dont know the answer to that, but it cant be good. Actually, I cant think of one good reason that US security agencies would need to have files on US citizens who have broken no laws. I mean, sure, the IRS, Social Security, okay, they have good reasons, and are usually pretty narrow with the info they collect. Thats legitimate. What the NSA is doing is NOT legitimate. Why the hell arent they destroying the information they dont need? Again, I dont know, but there can be no good answer to this question. No, its not 1984 just yet, but every day were more and more like the proverbial frogs in the gradually warming pot. Seems nice so far. I havent been thrown into prison on weird Kafkaesque charges. And, boy, this warm bath is downright comforting! And then were all boiling to death. alternet.org/media/huge-new-snowden-scoop-ordinary-internet-users-far-outnumbered-legal-targets
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:20:45 +0000
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