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Why on earth would you want people to trust the government? That's what got us into this mess.

by maxk42 13y ago

JonSkeptic 13y ago
> I tell people that they have no choice but to decide whom they trust and to then trust them as a matter of faith. It's a lousy answer, but until our government starts down the path of regaining our trust, it's the only thing we can do. I think the point of the article is that even he, a security professional with years of experience, does not know the extent of the government collection -> consequently, the government has a long way to go to restore people's trust as well as their ability to trust. He brings up a valid point that it's very difficult, if not impossible to know who to trust, you just have to trust them "on a matter of faith" and hope you picked right. The damage to trust isn't only damaging trust in the government.
emhart 13y ago
You are blaming the victim a bit here. There are bad actors that have done bad things. They are who got us into this mess.
- sp332 13y ago
  It's not that every member of the government is bad, it's that trusting all of them is a bad idea.
chmike 13y ago
There is indeed no other way than to trust the governmnet, but the tools and means to verify should be there too, and they aren't. We should not accept to be forced into blindly and naively trust the government in a claimed democracy.
Xylakant 13y ago
You can't verify everything and everyone you're dealing with on a daily basis. You need to trust someone. If you're not trusting your government you need to trust the people watching the government. Or the people watching the people watching the government. Or... It's turtles all the way down from there. The government acts as a large trust provider in a lot of daily interactions. Police authority derives from the government. Passports and ID-cards derive their validity from trust in the government... So it would be nice if in general we could trust the government and to be able to trust the government we need them to be open and transparent about what they do in our name - and held accountable if they fuck up in our name.
- hansjorg 13y ago
  Chain of trust? Maybe the USG is an organization that's too large to put your trust in.

Why on earth would you want people to trust the government? That's what got us into this mess.

by maxk42 13y ago

Why on earth would you want people to trust the government? That's what got us into this mess.

> I tell people that they have no choice but to decide whom they trust and to then trust them as a matter of faith. It's a lousy answer, but until our government starts down the path of regaining our trust, it's the only thing we can do. I think the point of the article is that even he, a security professional with years of experience, does not know the extent of the government collection -> consequently, the government has a long way to go to restore people's trust as well as their ability to trust. He brings up a valid point that it's very difficult, if not impossible to know who to trust, you just have to trust them "on a matter of faith" and hope you picked right. The damage to trust isn't only damaging trust in the government.

emhart 13y ago

You are blaming the victim a bit here. There are bad actors that have done bad things. They are who got us into this mess.

sp332 13y ago
It's not that every member of the government is bad, it's that trusting all of them is a bad idea.

chmike 13y ago

There is indeed no other way than to trust the governmnet, but the tools and means to verify should be there too, and they aren't. We should not accept to be forced into blindly and naively trust the government in a claimed democracy.

Xylakant 13y ago

You can't verify everything and everyone you're dealing with on a daily basis. You need to trust someone. If you're not trusting your government you need to trust the people watching the government. Or the people watching the people watching the government. Or... It's turtles all the way down from there. The government acts as a large trust provider in a lot of daily interactions. Police authority derives from the government. Passports and ID-cards derive their validity from trust in the government... So it would be nice if in general we could trust the government and to be able to trust the government we need them to be open and transparent about what they do in our name - and held accountable if they fuck up in our name.

hansjorg 13y ago
Chain of trust? Maybe the USG is an organization that's too large to put your trust in.