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The [USA] Government is Profiling You

26 points by Create 13y ago

techtalsky 13y ago
I'm feeling extremely impotent at this point to cause any meaningful change on this issue. It seems like the deck is stacked. We have the ACLU and the EFF but it increasingly seems like a war that can't be won. We're being slowly inured to total surveillance and it doesn't seem like there's any way to turn back the clock. It seems like the furor will die down over this particular issue even though it seems obvious to me that there's almost certainly more odious levels of data collection than what the government was currently caught doing. Is there ANY solution or is this the new reality?
- Create 13y ago
  We don’t have much time. The generation that grew up outside the Net is the last generation that can fix it without force. http://benjamin.sonntag.fr/Moglen-at-Re-Publica-Freedom-of-thought-requires-free-media http://benjamin.sonntag.fr/Moglen-at-Re-Publica-Freedom-of-t...
- jeremysmyth 13y ago
  The government has to work within the law. This might not sound right, but they do. The current furore is more to do with how they interpret the law, and what the law is. So, two things you can do: * Support organisations who can work within the law and know it better than you do, like the EFF and ORG * Get involved at a more local level with those who make the law - your congressional representatives and their staff It's a big world, and a big country, and you might not be able to affect the executive directly (after all that's what's doing the thing that's making us feel uncomfortable now), but the reason there are three branches of government is to limit the executive, and as individuals we can do that by using the law (that's what the EFF does), and by influencing the law, through your representatives.
  - techtalsky 13y ago
    This is a very small comfort when the government gets to have "classified" interpretations of the law.
    - jeremysmyth 13y ago
      "EFF Takes Fight Against Secret Surveillance Law to Federal Court" https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/sunshine-week-eff-takes-fight-against-secret-surveillance-law-federal-court https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/sunshine-week-eff-take... The EFF is well staffed with people who know what they're doing. They're on our side.

26 points by Create 13y ago

I'm feeling extremely impotent at this point to cause any meaningful change on this issue. It seems like the deck is stacked. We have the ACLU and the EFF but it increasingly seems like a war that can't be won. We're being slowly inured to total surveillance and it doesn't seem like there's any way to turn back the clock. It seems like the furor will die down over this particular issue even though it seems obvious to me that there's almost certainly more odious levels of data collection than what the government was currently caught doing. Is there ANY solution or is this the new reality?

Create 13y ago
We don’t have much time. The generation that grew up outside the Net is the last generation that can fix it without force. http://benjamin.sonntag.fr/Moglen-at-Re-Publica-Freedom-of-thought-requires-free-media http://benjamin.sonntag.fr/Moglen-at-Re-Publica-Freedom-of-t...
jeremysmyth 13y ago
The government has to work within the law. This might not sound right, but they do. The current furore is more to do with how they interpret the law, and what the law is. So, two things you can do: * Support organisations who can work within the law and know it better than you do, like the EFF and ORG * Get involved at a more local level with those who make the law - your congressional representatives and their staff It's a big world, and a big country, and you might not be able to affect the executive directly (after all that's what's doing the thing that's making us feel uncomfortable now), but the reason there are three branches of government is to limit the executive, and as individuals we can do that by using the law (that's what the EFF does), and by influencing the law, through your representatives.
- techtalsky 13y ago
  This is a very small comfort when the government gets to have "classified" interpretations of the law.
  - jeremysmyth 13y ago
    "EFF Takes Fight Against Secret Surveillance Law to Federal Court" https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/sunshine-week-eff-takes-fight-against-secret-surveillance-law-federal-court https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/sunshine-week-eff-take... The EFF is well staffed with people who know what they're doing. They're on our side.