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The US government spying on citizens is not new at all. It has happened for as long as our nation has been one. It may be more insidious now because the techno

The US government spying on citizens is not new at all. It has happened for as long as our nation has been one. It may be more insidious now because the technology to aggregate spying on "we the people" is available. Welcome to the truly post-privacy era. Furthermore, the average person is not outraged by this. Cue the shock and awe for one to ten minutes after the biggest breaking stories about it and after that, for the common (wo)man, its all yawns. Plus, it is quite a dilemma. How does the government protect against terrorism while trying to protect the citizens' privacy when a citizen, or anyone moving among us citizens, could be a terrorist or sympathizer? The intent is not bad but what could come of this kind of stealthy access is bad if it falls into the wrong hands or becomes guided by ill-intent.

EthanHeilman 13y ago
>The US government spying on citizens is not new at all. It has happened for as long as our nation has been one. The mission and organisational capability of the government as changed dramatically. Nations in the late 18th Century (1776+) didn't have intelligence agencies per se. Some had military intelligence that was focused outward and they had various figures and organisations that would informally engage in domestic espionage usually in an extremely targeted fashion. Remember that formal police departments didn't exist until the 20th Century. Most of what we think of as the Government didn't exist in your Great-Grandfathers time. None the following existed in the US in my Great-Grandfathers time: 1. Intelligence agencies CIA/NSA/CSS/NRO, 2. Dept. of Defense, 3. Welfare, 4. Police Local, State, FBI, DHS, 5. FDA (Drugs were unregulated), 6. Income Tax/IRS, 7. EPA and consumer protection agencies, 8. Public Education in its present form, 9. Federal Reserve Bank The US Federal Government was the Postal Service to most citizens. It is really important to understand that we are living at the height of Federal power in the history of the US. The closest thing that Europe pre-18th Century had to the NSA was the Inquisition and it was more focused on "investigation".

EthanHeilman 13y ago

>The US government spying on citizens is not new at all. It has happened for as long as our nation has been one. The mission and organisational capability of the government as changed dramatically. Nations in the late 18th Century (1776+) didn't have intelligence agencies per se. Some had military intelligence that was focused outward and they had various figures and organisations that would informally engage in domestic espionage usually in an extremely targeted fashion. Remember that formal police departments didn't exist until the 20th Century. Most of what we think of as the Government didn't exist in your Great-Grandfathers time. None the following existed in the US in my Great-Grandfathers time: 1. Intelligence agencies CIA/NSA/CSS/NRO, 2. Dept. of Defense, 3. Welfare, 4. Police Local, State, FBI, DHS, 5. FDA (Drugs were unregulated), 6. Income Tax/IRS, 7. EPA and consumer protection agencies, 8. Public Education in its present form, 9. Federal Reserve Bank The US Federal Government was the Postal Service to most citizens. It is really important to understand that we are living at the height of Federal power in the history of the US. The closest thing that Europe pre-18th Century had to the NSA was the Inquisition and it was more focused on "investigation".