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The reason why other members of the core white-anglo-saxon empire, Canada, UK, Aus, NZ have draconian surveillance systems is because it's the only way the US c

by isr 1y ago

The reason why other members of the core white-anglo-saxon empire, Canada, UK, Aus, NZ have draconian surveillance systems is because it's the only way the US can "legally" hoover up a lot of this data as it's own constitution gets in the way. A small island state in the south Pacific, close only to Aus & Antartic penguins, doesn't need or care about your data. An outpost of the wasp empire, without constitutional impediments getting the way, ABSOLUTELY DOES want to hoover up as much data that passes through it as possible. Which do you think NZ is? "5 eyes" has the membership it has, for a reason. So yes, as the centre of this unholy empire, the US is involved, and responsible.

owenversteeg 1y ago
That is an inaccurate summary of the Five Eyes program / intelligence disclosures. Almost all of the bulk+targeted surveillance of US citizens was carried out by the NSA directly - they have the biggest budget, the most power and brains. Not to mention, at the time of the leaks, datacenters were generally quite centralized in the US. The sharing of non-US-citizen data, of course, was (and almost certainly still is) rampant. But sharing of US citizen data was mostly from specific operations, not ongoing programs. I would be happy to be corrected if there is a leak that I have not heard of. This is not to justify any part of modern surveillance, which I have protested against for many years. Nor is it to dodge US responsibility. Back to the topic we're discussing - border phone searches - the US surveils their own citizens far less than the other Anglo countries. 22% of the searches were of US citizens, while US citizens make up a bit over half of border crossings. Australian citizens make up a similar proportion of Australian border crossings, but 42% of searches were of Australian citizens. Combine that with the figures above, and an Australian citizen going home has about a 4x higher chance of getting their phone searched than an American citizen. Very roughly, 0.025% vs 0.11%.
- isr 1y ago
  > Almost all of the bulk+targeted surveillance of US citizens was carried out by the NSA directly If you believe that, then you probably inhabit a parallel universe where Epstein wasn't an Israeli asset, and where he really did kill himself. In which case, keep calm & carry on...

by isr 1y ago

owenversteeg 1y ago

That is an inaccurate summary of the Five Eyes program / intelligence disclosures. Almost all of the bulk+targeted surveillance of US citizens was carried out by the NSA directly - they have the biggest budget, the most power and brains. Not to mention, at the time of the leaks, datacenters were generally quite centralized in the US. The sharing of non-US-citizen data, of course, was (and almost certainly still is) rampant. But sharing of US citizen data was mostly from specific operations, not ongoing programs. I would be happy to be corrected if there is a leak that I have not heard of. This is not to justify any part of modern surveillance, which I have protested against for many years. Nor is it to dodge US responsibility. Back to the topic we're discussing - border phone searches - the US surveils their own citizens far less than the other Anglo countries. 22% of the searches were of US citizens, while US citizens make up a bit over half of border crossings. Australian citizens make up a similar proportion of Australian border crossings, but 42% of searches were of Australian citizens. Combine that with the figures above, and an Australian citizen going home has about a 4x higher chance of getting their phone searched than an American citizen. Very roughly, 0.025% vs 0.11%.

isr 1y ago
> Almost all of the bulk+targeted surveillance of US citizens was carried out by the NSA directly If you believe that, then you probably inhabit a parallel universe where Epstein wasn't an Israeli asset, and where he really did kill himself. In which case, keep calm & carry on...