Congress can pass all the legislation it wants—it will have no real effect on the NSA’s activities—because the NSA no longer needs to dirty its hands by spying on Americans’ phone, email and internet activities, and the government can absolve itself of any direct wrongdoing. With technology companies such as Google in its hip pocket, the NSA can bypass any legislative restrictions dreamed up to appease the electorate and buy their way into a surveillance state. What’s worse, this for-profit surveillance scheme, far larger than anything the NSA could capture just by tapping into our phone calls, is made possible by our consumer dollars and our cooperation. All those disclaimers you scroll though without reading them, the ones written in minute font, only to quickly click on the “Agree” button at the end so you can get to the next step—downloading software, opening up a social media account, adding a new app to your phone or computer: those signify your written consent to having your activities monitored, recorded and shared. It’s not just the surveillance you consent to that’s being shared with the government, however. It’s the very technology you happily and unquestioningly use which is being hardwired to give the government easy access to your activities. -- John W. Whitehead, author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015