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even in the 90s people would half joke half serious comment about how the government watched all online communications The 90s actually had one of the most vis
by vezzy-fnord 11y ago
even in the 90s people would half joke half serious comment about how the government watched all online communications
The 90s actually had one of the most visible examples of NSA intervention, that of the Clipper chip.
They assume hearing repeated information wastes the time of everybody.
The issue isn't really repeating things, as much as the fact that it took up until Snowden for people to start being legitimately shocked, when they bluntly dismissed decades of prior art.
- vidarh 11y agoIt is quite depressing. I remember conversations at school in the early 90's where other students would flat out refuse to accept e.g. CIA involvement in operations that former CIA directors had publicly accepted responsibility for, because there was this perception from certain circles that the US just couldn't possibly be behaving that way. And that has persisted. What is not denied becomes implicitly accepted under the doctrine that if it's done, it must mean it's necessary, or what they should be doing. What is new with Snowden is that a portion of people who previously refused to entertain this possibility have finally accepted it. And are now "shocked" despite having been told for a very long time. I think a lot of people just don't get how deep the denial has run.