5 ms·

Obama has to say this stuff. Does he even believe it himself? Most people don't care as much as the HN crowd. Taking this stance is probably the best way to avo

by msvan 13y ago

Obama has to say this stuff. Does he even believe it himself? Most people don't care as much as the HN crowd. Taking this stance is probably the best way to avoid a PR scandal with the masses. Which doesn't make it right, of course.

ihsw 13y ago
He can blow it out of his ass. Nothing they say has a grain of truth anymore, and nothing of value will be accomplished by his latest chest-thumping. Data mining and data manipulation are the air superiority of the 21st century -- it's going to the form the bottom line of every major power in the world. They're going to bare their largest fangs and growl with impudence at anybody that gets in their way. He says there are safeguards, but the most important -- whistleblowing and accountability -- are getting a backseat. The NSA has vast swaths of information on everything and on everybody, and the related Federal agencies (Department of Treasury (IRS), Department of Justice (DEA)) can smell blood. Unless he puts very large walls and many beartraps around the NSA's data, we will be slaughtered. They're recording everything passing through their part of the internet, and now they're in charge of guarding their recordings. They're doing a piss-poor job so far.
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  Following your own analogy, shouldn't the rise in air power have resulted in us all being bombed from the sky? ISTM that you're making a teleological argument which depends on the government having a fundamentally antagonistic stance towards the people, a position for which I feel proof is severely lacking.
  - ohazi 13y ago
    You're not going to see proof of this position anytime soon, since explicit antagonism would be unpalatable to many people and would compromise the government's stance. But I think you can make a convincing argument that the U.S. government has indeed taken an implicit antagonistic stance towards many underclasses (drug users, the mentally ill, poor people, etc.) after convincing the rest of us that such specific antagonism should be tolerable. This is the real problem. If it happens gradually enough, the bastards can sell us anything.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- SmokyBorbon 13y ago
  - beedogs 13y ago
    Your account appears to have been hellbanned for whatever this comment was, which has also apparently been deleted.

by msvan 13y ago

ihsw 13y ago

He can blow it out of his ass. Nothing they say has a grain of truth anymore, and nothing of value will be accomplished by his latest chest-thumping. Data mining and data manipulation are the air superiority of the 21st century -- it's going to the form the bottom line of every major power in the world. They're going to bare their largest fangs and growl with impudence at anybody that gets in their way. He says there are safeguards, but the most important -- whistleblowing and accountability -- are getting a backseat. The NSA has vast swaths of information on everything and on everybody, and the related Federal agencies (Department of Treasury (IRS), Department of Justice (DEA)) can smell blood. Unless he puts very large walls and many beartraps around the NSA's data, we will be slaughtered. They're recording everything passing through their part of the internet, and now they're in charge of guarding their recordings. They're doing a piss-poor job so far.

anigbrowl 13y ago
Following your own analogy, shouldn't the rise in air power have resulted in us all being bombed from the sky? ISTM that you're making a teleological argument which depends on the government having a fundamentally antagonistic stance towards the people, a position for which I feel proof is severely lacking.
- ohazi 13y ago
  You're not going to see proof of this position anytime soon, since explicit antagonism would be unpalatable to many people and would compromise the government's stance. But I think you can make a convincing argument that the U.S. government has indeed taken an implicit antagonistic stance towards many underclasses (drug users, the mentally ill, poor people, etc.) after convincing the rest of us that such specific antagonism should be tolerable. This is the real problem. If it happens gradually enough, the bastards can sell us anything.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
SmokyBorbon 13y ago
- beedogs 13y ago
  Your account appears to have been hellbanned for whatever this comment was, which has also apparently been deleted.