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Why is everyone fretting about US citizens? a) Thinking the NSA and other intelligence organizations would really make the distinction between US and non-US ci
by phryk 13y ago
Why is everyone fretting about US citizens?
a) Thinking the NSA and other intelligence organizations would really make the distinction between US and non-US citizens, except in the scope that public opinion doesn't instantly crush them, doesn't seem like something they'd actually be likely to do.
b) 95% of the earths population are outside of the USA, Facebook alone has a user count higher than 3 times the total US population.
Really, the distinction is completely meaningless for this discussion. The only effect it has is alienating non-US citizens because it makes it seem like US citizens are only concerned about themselves.
I also think the focus on the US surveillance apparatus might not be the way to go either, things like the upcoming Indian surveillance system belong to the very same discussion.
- 16s 13y agoMany Americans have multiple Facebook accounts. Corporations do too.
- phryk 13y agoWhich definitely don't make up >600 million accounts. I could've also used Google as an example, I'm pretty sure the bulk of their traffic is non-US traffic. But even if it doesn't, that doesn't change my point one bit.
- dllthomas 13y agoWhile I think in numerous respects we do pay too little attention to the rights of people elsewhere, both in a moral and practical sense, there is a significant sense in which our surveillance capabilities turned inward is a bigger problem than them turned outward: the American people are fundamentally the biggest check on the further growth of the power of these individuals, and giving them further power over us diminishes that.
- boot 13y agoRight. It isn't to be disingenuous to everyone else. I think of it similar to Chinese hacking incidences. "Foreign Power X hacked into the US defense contractors?" Yeah, I'm okay with that. We need a balance of power in this world. Versus if it was this: "The US hacked into it's own civilian's businesses?" Not acceptable.
- superuser2 13y agoIntelligence agencies exist to spy on foreigners. The NSA is only behaving illegally if it targets US citizens.
- phryk 13y agoOh, and it being lawful somehow makes it better? Also I'm pretty sure they bent it a way so that the current spying on US citizens isn't technically illegal either.