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I would prefer it if the journalists who wrote about issues like this would stop using cutesy words like "snooping" when they talk about government surveillance

I would prefer it if the journalists who wrote about issues like this would stop using cutesy words like "snooping" when they talk about government surveillance programs. It sounds like an effort to whitewash what "those naughty rogues" are doing. Same thing as saying that Politician X is a "fibber". No one out there, as far as I am aware, is clamoring for us to treat this behavior as "naughty", so I don't see why they've chosen to employ this langauge.

tzs 7y ago
Snoop means, according to Oxford: "Investigate or look around furtively in an attempt to find out something, especially information about someone's private affairs". Surveillance is "Close observation, especially of a suspected spy or criminal". Going by those definitions, I'd sure rather have someone surveilling me than snooping on me. I don't see why you consider the word "snooping" to be cutesy or for whitewashing.
- fenwick67 7y ago
  IDK how to justify it but "snooping" seems cutesy to me as well.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    Maybe because there’s a comic strip character with a similar name.
- hotsauceror 7y ago
  "Snooping", to me, brings to mind images of disapproving mother-in-law looking through your medicine cabinet or little kids trying to find where you hid the Christmas presents. Whereas "surveilling" implies gathering the information necessary to blackmail, imprison, or kill someone.
  - MereInterest 7y ago
    Agreed entirely. "Stalking" would also be an appropriate term.
- hotsauceror 7y ago
  It is also worth pointing out that your dictionary definition of 'surveil' discounts entirely the watching of law-abiding political dissidents. As we have seen, such software is used to monitor human rights workers and NGOs. Finessing a repressive government's characterization of such persons as spies or criminals is exactly the same justification used by the purveyors of the software itself - "it is not to be used for unlawful purposes".
- burkaman 7y ago
  Is this maybe a British vs. American difference? In the US "snooping" definitely has a sort of casual, comedic connotation. You snoop on an office conversation, not a foreign government. It would be weird to hear a journalist talk about "domestic snooping" instead of "domestic spying". But in England the widespread nickname for some pretty serious legislation was "Snoopers' Charter", and the Economist is using the word in a similar manner. Even the dictionaries disagree: Merriam-Webster defines it as "to look or pry especially in a sneaking or meddlesome manner". "meddlesome prying" feels substantially different from "furtive investigating" to me.
ebg13 7y ago
This is a common problem across reporting today. Scam, cheat, and fraud operations are diminished as "trolls". Lying is softened as "telling mistruths". Shills and hucksters are praised as "moderate". I think it happens because major media outlets have a strong political interest in perpetuating status quo where the ruling class remains untouchable.
- _-david-_ 7y ago
  >Lying is softened as "telling mistruths" Lying is intentional deception. Telling mistruths can be either be misinformed or intentional. This makes it less likely they will be sued for slander/libel if it turns out it is an honest mistake.
prox 7y ago
Is there a difference between untruthful and lying? They seem perfectly synonymous yet I see that one all the time
- dx87 7y ago
  I think they're synonomous, but the key part to me is that "lying" is directly related to "liar", whereas "untruthful" doesn't have that relation with another word, at least to my knowledge. So saying that someone is "lying" is also attacking their character by implying that they are a "liar", while "untruthful" could mean that even though they are saying something that isn't true, it doesn't necessarily reflect on their character as a whole. It's just playing semantics, but I think it is treated different on a subconsious level.
  - prox 7y ago
    That makes sense. One could be construed attacking the character in an article , unless said character makes a habit of lying.

tzs 7y ago

Snoop means, according to Oxford: "Investigate or look around furtively in an attempt to find out something, especially information about someone's private affairs". Surveillance is "Close observation, especially of a suspected spy or criminal". Going by those definitions, I'd sure rather have someone surveilling me than snooping on me. I don't see why you consider the word "snooping" to be cutesy or for whitewashing.

fenwick67 7y ago
IDK how to justify it but "snooping" seems cutesy to me as well.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Maybe because there’s a comic strip character with a similar name.
hotsauceror 7y ago
"Snooping", to me, brings to mind images of disapproving mother-in-law looking through your medicine cabinet or little kids trying to find where you hid the Christmas presents. Whereas "surveilling" implies gathering the information necessary to blackmail, imprison, or kill someone.
- MereInterest 7y ago
  Agreed entirely. "Stalking" would also be an appropriate term.
hotsauceror 7y ago
It is also worth pointing out that your dictionary definition of 'surveil' discounts entirely the watching of law-abiding political dissidents. As we have seen, such software is used to monitor human rights workers and NGOs. Finessing a repressive government's characterization of such persons as spies or criminals is exactly the same justification used by the purveyors of the software itself - "it is not to be used for unlawful purposes".
burkaman 7y ago
Is this maybe a British vs. American difference? In the US "snooping" definitely has a sort of casual, comedic connotation. You snoop on an office conversation, not a foreign government. It would be weird to hear a journalist talk about "domestic snooping" instead of "domestic spying". But in England the widespread nickname for some pretty serious legislation was "Snoopers' Charter", and the Economist is using the word in a similar manner. Even the dictionaries disagree: Merriam-Webster defines it as "to look or pry especially in a sneaking or meddlesome manner". "meddlesome prying" feels substantially different from "furtive investigating" to me.

ebg13 7y ago

This is a common problem across reporting today. Scam, cheat, and fraud operations are diminished as "trolls". Lying is softened as "telling mistruths". Shills and hucksters are praised as "moderate". I think it happens because major media outlets have a strong political interest in perpetuating status quo where the ruling class remains untouchable.

_-david-_ 7y ago
>Lying is softened as "telling mistruths" Lying is intentional deception. Telling mistruths can be either be misinformed or intentional. This makes it less likely they will be sued for slander/libel if it turns out it is an honest mistake.

prox 7y ago

Is there a difference between untruthful and lying? They seem perfectly synonymous yet I see that one all the time

dx87 7y ago
I think they're synonomous, but the key part to me is that "lying" is directly related to "liar", whereas "untruthful" doesn't have that relation with another word, at least to my knowledge. So saying that someone is "lying" is also attacking their character by implying that they are a "liar", while "untruthful" could mean that even though they are saying something that isn't true, it doesn't necessarily reflect on their character as a whole. It's just playing semantics, but I think it is treated different on a subconsious level.
- prox 7y ago
  That makes sense. One could be construed attacking the character in an article , unless said character makes a habit of lying.