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I am really not sure why the inevitable conclusion is that the US will direct every bad technology against its own citizens. Does it not occur to anyone that th

by pekk 14y ago

I am really not sure why the inevitable conclusion is that the US will direct every bad technology against its own citizens. Does it not occur to anyone that they might be at least as likely to be attacked by non-governmental groups?

jamieb 14y ago
More US Citizens have been killed by the Federal Government than by any other organized group. The military has been involved with strike breaking [1]. The military was used to suppress the southern states from seceding from the union. [2] Say what you want about the horrors of slavery, but the southern states had the right to secede and were suppressed militarily. More recently, the President has suspended the 4th amendment, and, quite relevant to this article, authorized murder of US Citizens using drones. These are facts. There's no leaping to conclusions here. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_union_busting_in_the_United_States#Union_busting_with_military_force http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_union_busting_in_the... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War#Causes_of_secession http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War#Causes_of_se...
- pekk 14y ago
  Flying the Confederate flag isn't really an argument.
- jbattle 14y ago
  I'm not sure the civil war is a good argument. If they seceded lawfully, they weren't citizens. If they weren't lawfully seceding, they were traitors/insurrectionists. In arms no less. More germane might be the experiments at Oak Ridge.
sukuriant 14y ago
There's also a "Who is watching the watchers" mentality. Am I terribly concerned about the US Military using this tech? Not really, no. Am I concerned about the local police force infringing on my privacy by using these tools without a warrant, or worse, claiming that they shouldn't need a warrant before they use micro-spy drones? Yes. With the proper checks and balances in place, by all means, use powerful spy tools to track someone, but only that someone, etc.
- pekk 14y ago
  I find it strange that nobody is concerned about militia groups, particularly when related groups have already demonstrated capabilities to (for example) carry out bombing attacks. Or I would find it strange, if it were not so obvious that the agenda in focusing on the government is to advantage people like those militia groups

by pekk 14y ago

jamieb 14y ago

More US Citizens have been killed by the Federal Government than by any other organized group. The military has been involved with strike breaking [1]. The military was used to suppress the southern states from seceding from the union. [2] Say what you want about the horrors of slavery, but the southern states had the right to secede and were suppressed militarily. More recently, the President has suspended the 4th amendment, and, quite relevant to this article, authorized murder of US Citizens using drones. These are facts. There's no leaping to conclusions here. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_union_busting_in_the_United_States#Union_busting_with_military_force http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_union_busting_in_the... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War#Causes_of_secession http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War#Causes_of_se...

pekk 14y ago
Flying the Confederate flag isn't really an argument.
jbattle 14y ago
I'm not sure the civil war is a good argument. If they seceded lawfully, they weren't citizens. If they weren't lawfully seceding, they were traitors/insurrectionists. In arms no less. More germane might be the experiments at Oak Ridge.

sukuriant 14y ago

There's also a "Who is watching the watchers" mentality. Am I terribly concerned about the US Military using this tech? Not really, no. Am I concerned about the local police force infringing on my privacy by using these tools without a warrant, or worse, claiming that they shouldn't need a warrant before they use micro-spy drones? Yes. With the proper checks and balances in place, by all means, use powerful spy tools to track someone, but only that someone, etc.

pekk 14y ago
I find it strange that nobody is concerned about militia groups, particularly when related groups have already demonstrated capabilities to (for example) carry out bombing attacks. Or I would find it strange, if it were not so obvious that the agenda in focusing on the government is to advantage people like those militia groups