4 ms·

I said this before, and i will say it again. Call your representative and voice your opinion. Donate to eff and aclu or any other civil and digital liberties

I said this before, and i will say it again. Call your representative and voice your opinion. Donate to eff and aclu or any other civil and digital liberties organizations, to help them protect our privacy and rights through legal means. Privacy evasion is slippery slope and it only gets worse. Take this as your daily or weekly reminder to do something, even if that something is donating just the price of a coffee.

ActsJuvenile 9y ago
I am feeling pessimistic man. We had a few decades of privacy and human rights progress post World Wars. But with Terrorism on the rise there is no way for privacy or human rights to make a comeback. We will see increasingly clever ways to water down laws we already have in place.
- tehlike 9y ago
  The incentives are huge, and digital life makes it all the more easy. The more information someone has, the more lucrative it is collect even more. You can find someones property address online - it used to take wuite a bit of effort in the past. Now the effort is on the property owner to protect his privacy - using land trusts or other estate structures. What is worse is now people volunteer information on social networks. If you dont, your friends do - nullifying your effort. I am not optimistic either, but i will do whatever i can ti protect my own privacy whenever i can. I stopped using fb, and making an effort to learn estate planning and so on.
- JBlue42 9y ago
  >Terrorism on the rise Terrorism in the US isn't on the rise (unless we're counting white supremacists marches, which the media doesn't) but the powers that be and their cohorts are still milking the teat and our fears from 9/11 on this stuff. People who have no reason to be scared of any of this also won't stand up to it ('I'm not a criminal so it doesn't matter...'). Also funny that when/if another attack does happen, it will be those of us in blue cities (NYC, LA, SF, etc.) sacrificing our lives even if we're against this stuff and the system as it is. Fear is a business and some people are making bank. Osama would be proud.
  - oldandtired 9y ago
    Terrorism is on the rise and is very much alive and well in the USA. The general populous just doesn't recognise it for what it is. Every time anyone raises the subject from an official or semi-official position, they are practising terrorism. They want you afraid, they need you to be afraid. They will do anything to keep you afraid. All of this is so that you, the people, will be easily managed and controlled and will freely give up both your rights and privileges to be free so that you don't take responsibility for yourself and your decisions. There maybe one or two small governments somewhere in the world that aren't on this track, but I don't know of any. Being fully responsible for your decisions and choices is actually not easy for most people and they would rather have others take up that responsibility. All of our cultures have taken up the "blame game". There are many problems to be faced and it is up to each of us to face them with aplomb and action as we come face to face with them. "Aorta" should be dropped from the English vocabulary as a verb. As in : Aorta stop them foreigners from taking our jobs. Aorta stop those companies from doing the wrong thing. Aorta may better laws to control those other people. etc., etc., etc. So your second last sentence has the truth of it. > Fear is a business and some people are making bank. The last should read, all the US presidents would be proud.
    - sctb 9y ago
      This seems like the kind of ranting that we've already asked you not to post, so could you please stop? Generic tangents just don't bring about the kind of discussion we're after here. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15768285 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15768285
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
- averagewall 9y ago
  The UK caught a Scotland airport attempted bomber using number plate recognition as he tried to flee on the motorway. So it can do some use.
  - tehlike 9y ago
    certainly, but at what cost? When autonomous cars become ubiquitous, this will increase even to places currently outside of reach.
threatofrain 9y ago
I feel very skeptical of calling your representatives. Firstly, it matters if they are in a contentious district. Secondly, even if they do see you as a potentially credible concern, they will still corroborate that concern with a political consultancy when election time comes.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  > I feel very skeptical of calling your representatives Based on what? For contentious issues on which most voters are decided, e.g. guns or abortion, you are correct--calling in is unlikely to do anything. If you care about a big-ticket issue, join an organization and do the whole camping out at town houses and protesting local and D.C. offices and filing lawsuits schtick. It's hard, but it works. For niche issues, however, there is a good chance nobody has bothered to think about it. Congressional offices rely on inbound information to put new issues on their radar. An SLA penning out a letter to the ICE requesting information can start meaningful debate, inside the ICE as well as in the Congress.
  - btown 9y ago
    SLA?
    - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
      Senior Legislative Analyst. They're junior enough to have their hands in the weeds but senior enough to have clout. The most tangible discussions I've had when calling my representatives came in debates and negotiations with and the giving of advice to SLAs.
- tehlike 9y ago
  That is the part that is most disturbing. The more people think that way the more marginal each caller becomes. We need crowds to call, raise issues. Part of why things got bad wrt housing, for example, only the people that had houses raised their opinion in city halls, which led to these people trying to protect their investments, which eventually lead to nimbysm. I am not a citizen, yet, so i am going through the route of donating an amount i am comfortable with, but in 2.5 years, i will be one, and raise my voice through other channels too.

ActsJuvenile 9y ago

I am feeling pessimistic man. We had a few decades of privacy and human rights progress post World Wars. But with Terrorism on the rise there is no way for privacy or human rights to make a comeback. We will see increasingly clever ways to water down laws we already have in place.

tehlike 9y ago
The incentives are huge, and digital life makes it all the more easy. The more information someone has, the more lucrative it is collect even more. You can find someones property address online - it used to take wuite a bit of effort in the past. Now the effort is on the property owner to protect his privacy - using land trusts or other estate structures. What is worse is now people volunteer information on social networks. If you dont, your friends do - nullifying your effort. I am not optimistic either, but i will do whatever i can ti protect my own privacy whenever i can. I stopped using fb, and making an effort to learn estate planning and so on.
JBlue42 9y ago
>Terrorism on the rise Terrorism in the US isn't on the rise (unless we're counting white supremacists marches, which the media doesn't) but the powers that be and their cohorts are still milking the teat and our fears from 9/11 on this stuff. People who have no reason to be scared of any of this also won't stand up to it ('I'm not a criminal so it doesn't matter...'). Also funny that when/if another attack does happen, it will be those of us in blue cities (NYC, LA, SF, etc.) sacrificing our lives even if we're against this stuff and the system as it is. Fear is a business and some people are making bank. Osama would be proud.
- oldandtired 9y ago
  Terrorism is on the rise and is very much alive and well in the USA. The general populous just doesn't recognise it for what it is. Every time anyone raises the subject from an official or semi-official position, they are practising terrorism. They want you afraid, they need you to be afraid. They will do anything to keep you afraid. All of this is so that you, the people, will be easily managed and controlled and will freely give up both your rights and privileges to be free so that you don't take responsibility for yourself and your decisions. There maybe one or two small governments somewhere in the world that aren't on this track, but I don't know of any. Being fully responsible for your decisions and choices is actually not easy for most people and they would rather have others take up that responsibility. All of our cultures have taken up the "blame game". There are many problems to be faced and it is up to each of us to face them with aplomb and action as we come face to face with them. "Aorta" should be dropped from the English vocabulary as a verb. As in : Aorta stop them foreigners from taking our jobs. Aorta stop those companies from doing the wrong thing. Aorta may better laws to control those other people. etc., etc., etc. So your second last sentence has the truth of it. > Fear is a business and some people are making bank. The last should read, all the US presidents would be proud.
  - sctb 9y ago
    This seems like the kind of ranting that we've already asked you not to post, so could you please stop? Generic tangents just don't bring about the kind of discussion we're after here. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15768285 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15768285
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
averagewall 9y ago
The UK caught a Scotland airport attempted bomber using number plate recognition as he tried to flee on the motorway. So it can do some use.
- tehlike 9y ago
  certainly, but at what cost? When autonomous cars become ubiquitous, this will increase even to places currently outside of reach.

threatofrain 9y ago

I feel very skeptical of calling your representatives. Firstly, it matters if they are in a contentious district. Secondly, even if they do see you as a potentially credible concern, they will still corroborate that concern with a political consultancy when election time comes.

JumpCrisscross 9y ago
> I feel very skeptical of calling your representatives Based on what? For contentious issues on which most voters are decided, e.g. guns or abortion, you are correct--calling in is unlikely to do anything. If you care about a big-ticket issue, join an organization and do the whole camping out at town houses and protesting local and D.C. offices and filing lawsuits schtick. It's hard, but it works. For niche issues, however, there is a good chance nobody has bothered to think about it. Congressional offices rely on inbound information to put new issues on their radar. An SLA penning out a letter to the ICE requesting information can start meaningful debate, inside the ICE as well as in the Congress.
- btown 9y ago
  SLA?
  - JumpCrisscross 9y ago
    Senior Legislative Analyst. They're junior enough to have their hands in the weeds but senior enough to have clout. The most tangible discussions I've had when calling my representatives came in debates and negotiations with and the giving of advice to SLAs.
tehlike 9y ago
That is the part that is most disturbing. The more people think that way the more marginal each caller becomes. We need crowds to call, raise issues. Part of why things got bad wrt housing, for example, only the people that had houses raised their opinion in city halls, which led to these people trying to protect their investments, which eventually lead to nimbysm. I am not a citizen, yet, so i am going through the route of donating an amount i am comfortable with, but in 2.5 years, i will be one, and raise my voice through other channels too.