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There is an ethical argument that the morality of a government's actions doesn't change because of the nationality of those actions' benefactors or victims. The
by thomaslangston 13y ago
There is an ethical argument that the morality of a government's actions doesn't change because of the nationality of those actions' benefactors or victims. Therefore if it isn't moral to perform dragnet surveillance on the U.S. population, then it isn't moral to do so on foreign populations either.
There is another ethical argument that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us (i.e. the Golden Rule). If the U.S. doesn't want foreign governments performing dragnet surveillance on them, then the U.S. shouldn't perform dragnet surveillance on other countries.
There is a policy argument that dragnet surveillance, when combined with foreign information sharing agreements, is effectively an unintended loophole. For example, assume British intelligence performs dragnet surveillance on the U.S. and vice versa. When these hypothetical findings are shared, it negates the perceived limitations on domestic surveillance.
There is an economic argument that if U.S. companies cannot be trusted to protect the privacy of their customers, foreign markets will become closed to them either via customer choice or even foreign government regulation.
- pavanred 13y agoSpeaking of which, has anyone put together a list of potential non US alternatives for commonly used services?
- joering2 13y ago> then it isn't moral to do so on foreign populations either. Since when was the last time US government or its Military branch thought or cared about what's moral and what's not? Long story short: the major reason why they can get away with drones flying over foreign soil with lethal weapon is because american media barely reports on it. My hunch is that there are deals done behind closed doors; deals maybe NOT purely illegal but unethical for sure. For example: do not report on drone strikes and Lockheed Martin will advertise their jet fighters in your newspaper for $10MM per year. It happened before (hint: that advertise has no reason to exist; you won't and you can't just pick up your phone and call Lockheed to order a jetfighter yourself). I am sure some small newspaper somewhere is alarming public on drones killing innocent people on foreign soil, but again, they are "too small to succeed". And further: the only reason you don't have droned killing americans on american soil is the eventual unleash of bashing that media would do. Agai, nothing to do with morality. While far away they can get away with it, however here at home it would be hard to stop the news.
- nealmydataorg 13y agohttp://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/07/22/leaked-pakistan-government-report-indicates-dozens-of-children-have-been-killed-by-us-drones/ http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/07/22/leaked-pakistan-... informs about number of people including children killed by drones. http://news.yahoo.com/faa-warns-public-against-shooting-guns-drones-183617273.html http://news.yahoo.com/faa-warns-public-against-shooting-guns... has information regarding drones used in USA.