5 ms·
> Drawn to the UAE with the promise of combating terrorism, dozens of American intelligence contractors cycled in and out of a secret hacking unit over the cour
by AndrewBissell 7y ago
> Drawn to the UAE with the promise of combating terrorism, dozens of American intelligence contractors cycled in and out of a secret hacking unit over the course of a decade. As time went on, the mission became less focused on preventing violent attacks than on targeting the country’s political enemies.
It's time for us to stop pretending that the purpose of mass surveillance programs is to prevent one-off terrorist attacks. They exist to surveil and quash political dissidents.
- c22 7y agoIt seems like a natural progression. Obviously you want to stop terrorist attacks before they happen, but now you're not targeting terrorists, you're targeting political dissidents who have a plan to become terrorists. The earlier in the planning stages you can catch them the better. Soon enough you're keeping an eye on them before they've made any plans...
- rexgallorum2 7y agoCorrect. Surveillance has historically had three chief purposes. - taxation, the expropriation of property or surplus value - manpower, conscription - maintaining order and control, eliminating threats, etc. You can go all the way back to the dawn of agriculture and the rise of the first grain-based proto-states. The fundamentals remain much the same.
- tclancy 7y agoHey, hey, hey, some of these people just smell a chance for profit and don't have a moral framework that gets in the way. Stop using such a broad brush!
- matheusmoreira 7y agoTerrorism is indeed becoming a tired excuse. They're changing their arguments to child protection.