4 ms·

There is very little distinction between your own government surveilling you and a foreign government surveilling you. Especially among western nations that sha

There is very little distinction between your own government surveilling you and a foreign government surveilling you. Especially among western nations that share a great deal of intelligence. This isn't just theoretical. Here is a very stark and relevant example of the power the US has over German citizens: http://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/dec/13/cia-tortured-sodomised-terror-suspect http://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/dec/13/cia-tortured-sodo... There are currently hundreds of millions of people living in parts of the world where 'benign' foreign surveillance is the difference between being alive tomorrow and a US drone strike on your house.

DanielBMarkham 12y ago
"...Especially among western nations that share a great deal of intelligence..." Hopefully I didn't present my opinion as some kind of solved problem. I agree that with the automation of collection and sharing of data, the game has changed. The original comment was about how people felt after the wall fell, and I thought it was a very strange thing for somebody to feel. Heck, if I were in their shoes, I'd be happy just not to have the secret police following me around. There is a theory going around that somehow we can get along without any intelligence collection or data sharing at all. Frankly I do not understand how that would work. There are real threats and collecting intelligence about foreign entities and their intent has, over time, done great good for the world. In fact, there are many cases where the lack of good intelligence has caused much harm. But I'm willing to hear folks out.