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One thing that has always kept oppressive governments in check was their incompetence. While the Snowden revelations make the NSA seem like some all seeing all
by spikels 13y ago
One thing that has always kept oppressive governments in check was their incompetence. While the Snowden revelations make the NSA seem like some all seeing all knowing bunch of geniuses they are probably more like the people at CIA or FBI. Even with tons of resources and a free reign to do things no normal citizen is allowed to do, they simply don't have incentives to put these abilities to best use and certainly won't suffer when their failings are exposed.
- a3n 13y ago> Even with tons of resources and a free reign to do things no normal citizen is allowed to do, they simply don't have incentives to put these abilities to best use and certainly won't suffer when their failings are exposed. It's because of that free reign that they have no incentive to best use. It's the same kind of secrecy and result that gives us what they do in their day to day work. No one's watching them, so they can be lazy and "collect all the things." No one's watching them, so they can be fast and loose with construction contracts and the Constitution. The reason we have oversight of anything, whether it's military activity, spying, software quality or homework is because our inclination is to be lazy, and that gets worse with more resources. We all benefit from oversight, even the watchers. Even the unwatched watchers.
- rbanffy 13y ago> One thing that has always kept oppressive governments in check was their incompetence That doesn't make them any less scary. They are too dangerous to your democracy and freedom.