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Sadly I think this Snowden article is nonsense. I don't see any way of rolling back global surveillance going forward. It's great to organize on a local level t

Sadly I think this Snowden article is nonsense. I don't see any way of rolling back global surveillance going forward. It's great to organize on a local level to make a point but the extent of data capture by shadowy state sanctioned organizations has been going on for decades and is now that data cam be parsed and manipulated by increasingly sophisticated AI. Add in divide and rule social engineering and cancel culture and we are rapidly accelerating into an era that is extremely Orwellian. I'm also disappointed to see Snowden write '..a youth rebellion that relied on lasers and traffic cones as sword and shield, and that it would come to paralyze one of the world’s richest and most powerful governments'. For me this is nonsense. Rioting and lawless behaviors are arguably being allowed as part of a 'problem, reaction, solution' crackdown to justify future more draconian policing. There is no paralysis.

paulpauper 6y ago
agree. once rights are forfeited, they cannot be reclaimed. Patriot Act will not be undone anytime soon.
- olivermarks 6y ago
  This is a global problem created by the offshore capitalist empire, US law is local in comparison...
  - Avicebron 6y ago
    Agreed. This is just cement to bind together the tragedy that is the offshore capitalist empire, less and less freedom and less and less rights. I'm so disapointed with what was done to the world, it's turning into a homogeneous panopticon with no end in sight
AndrewBissell 6y ago
The only way to truly roll back surveillance is political action to dismantle it at the state level. Unfortunately Snowden always points away from this avenue to niche, technological pseudo-solutions like cryptography which have by now proven unable to disrupt the system's functioning as a whole. Of course, that political action could take many forms. In a 1968 short story titled 2068 A.D. Frank Herbert wrote: "Prominent in 2068 history books is the account of the violence at the turn of the century when people revolted against computer control. Computer stored data (growing out of the old National Data Center) had been used to harass and persecute those whose views didn't conform with those of the majority. In the bloody revolt, most computers were destroyed, their data erased."

paulpauper 6y ago

agree. once rights are forfeited, they cannot be reclaimed. Patriot Act will not be undone anytime soon.

olivermarks 6y ago
This is a global problem created by the offshore capitalist empire, US law is local in comparison...
- Avicebron 6y ago
  Agreed. This is just cement to bind together the tragedy that is the offshore capitalist empire, less and less freedom and less and less rights. I'm so disapointed with what was done to the world, it's turning into a homogeneous panopticon with no end in sight

AndrewBissell 6y ago

The only way to truly roll back surveillance is political action to dismantle it at the state level. Unfortunately Snowden always points away from this avenue to niche, technological pseudo-solutions like cryptography which have by now proven unable to disrupt the system's functioning as a whole. Of course, that political action could take many forms. In a 1968 short story titled 2068 A.D. Frank Herbert wrote: "Prominent in 2068 history books is the account of the violence at the turn of the century when people revolted against computer control. Computer stored data (growing out of the old National Data Center) had been used to harass and persecute those whose views didn't conform with those of the majority. In the bloody revolt, most computers were destroyed, their data erased."