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"Privately, there were moments when I worried that we might have put our privileged lives at risk for nothing — that the public would react with indifference, o

by mhurron 11y ago

"Privately, there were moments when I worried that we might have put our privileged lives at risk for nothing — that the public would react with indifference, or practiced cynicism, to the revelations." Except I don't see anything other than that. I don't see the world saying no to servailence. I see Europeans complaining about the NSA while turning a blind eye to their own governments doing the same thing, but that's nothing new. I see Americans demanding the government do whatever they can do 'stop terrorism.' I only see people agreeing with Snowden and really being annoyed with the survailence because I frequent the small groups of people that do. Outside of that, I don't see it.

cryoshon 11y ago
There's been congressional and judiciary action and an abundance of discussion. You can't claim there is public indifference: congress would never move on an otherwise niche issue unless they were fearful. There's a plurality of people concerned about increasing security in light of all the recent hackings of public data. This issue is intimately related to surveillance, and is undeniably of rising concern. This is the start! It took two years to get rolling, but there is the potential to get back on the right track.
bttf 11y ago
Despite that, I think the fact that major tech companies are bringing encryption into the fold as a standard feature, along with the judicial branch knocking down the NSA calling their practices unconstitutional certainly counts for something, if not for a lot of effort from a lot of concerned members of society.
jobu 11y ago
Do you think the Patriot Act would've been allowed to lapse if it weren't for Snowden? It's possible, but seems very unlikely. The USA Freedom act may not be perfect, but it helps and there's no way it would exist without the documents Snowden released. Also: - NSA's phone spying program ruled illegal by appeals court ( http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/us-usa-security-nsa-idUSKBN0NS1IN20150507 http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/us-usa-security-ns... ) - Apple’s Tim Cook Delivers Blistering Speech On Encryption, Privacy ( http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/02/apples-tim-cook-delivers-blistering-speech-on-encryption-privacy/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/02/apples-tim-cook-delivers-bl... ) - Fuck these guys - Brandon Downey, Google Security Engineer (https://plus.google.com/+BrandonDowney/posts/SfYy8xbDWGG https://plus.google.com/+BrandonDowney/posts/SfYy8xbDWGG
- mhurron 11y ago
  > Do you think the Patriot Act would've been allowed to lapse if it weren't for Snowden? I see no evidence that Snowden's revalations had anything to do with that. > The USA Freedom act may not be perfect, but it helps http://news.antiwar.com/2015/06/02/senate-passes-patriot-act-extension-heads-to-obama-for-signature/ http://news.antiwar.com/2015/06/02/senate-passes-patriot-act... This Freedom Act? The one that does extend Section 215 of PATRIOT Act? That one? "Administration officials say the NSA program and the metadata collection will be back up and running within a day after the president signs it back into law, which again the indications are will happen very soon. Officials made no mention of any changes in the operation of the program, despite the nominal reforms." The PATRIOT act has lapsed in name only and even then it appears to have done so only because the Senate excells in doing nothing. Then a few days later it does get exended (and the Whitehouse is just itching to sign it into law) under a new name no one can complain about. FREEDOM ACT, see it's all about your freedom, while it extends surveillance. Rand Paul gets his 'see I blocked government surveillance' and the government gets its surveillance. It's a win-win for the Government. The NSA's actions were 'illegal' before. They will continue to do it. No one seriously expects them to stop. They'll just change program names. Apple can use a little bit of media attention to sell cell phones. And Google? Really, Google, the company along with Facebook that basically is synonymous with surveillance and tracking. None of this shows any mass rejection of the governments surveillance programs, because there hasn't been any.

by mhurron 11y ago

cryoshon 11y ago

There's been congressional and judiciary action and an abundance of discussion. You can't claim there is public indifference: congress would never move on an otherwise niche issue unless they were fearful. There's a plurality of people concerned about increasing security in light of all the recent hackings of public data. This issue is intimately related to surveillance, and is undeniably of rising concern. This is the start! It took two years to get rolling, but there is the potential to get back on the right track.

bttf 11y ago

Despite that, I think the fact that major tech companies are bringing encryption into the fold as a standard feature, along with the judicial branch knocking down the NSA calling their practices unconstitutional certainly counts for something, if not for a lot of effort from a lot of concerned members of society.

jobu 11y ago

Do you think the Patriot Act would've been allowed to lapse if it weren't for Snowden? It's possible, but seems very unlikely. The USA Freedom act may not be perfect, but it helps and there's no way it would exist without the documents Snowden released. Also: - NSA's phone spying program ruled illegal by appeals court ( http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/us-usa-security-nsa-idUSKBN0NS1IN20150507 http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/us-usa-security-ns... ) - Apple’s Tim Cook Delivers Blistering Speech On Encryption, Privacy ( http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/02/apples-tim-cook-delivers-blistering-speech-on-encryption-privacy/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/02/apples-tim-cook-delivers-bl... ) - Fuck these guys - Brandon Downey, Google Security Engineer (https://plus.google.com/+BrandonDowney/posts/SfYy8xbDWGG https://plus.google.com/+BrandonDowney/posts/SfYy8xbDWGG

mhurron 11y ago
> Do you think the Patriot Act would've been allowed to lapse if it weren't for Snowden? I see no evidence that Snowden's revalations had anything to do with that. > The USA Freedom act may not be perfect, but it helps http://news.antiwar.com/2015/06/02/senate-passes-patriot-act-extension-heads-to-obama-for-signature/ http://news.antiwar.com/2015/06/02/senate-passes-patriot-act... This Freedom Act? The one that does extend Section 215 of PATRIOT Act? That one? "Administration officials say the NSA program and the metadata collection will be back up and running within a day after the president signs it back into law, which again the indications are will happen very soon. Officials made no mention of any changes in the operation of the program, despite the nominal reforms." The PATRIOT act has lapsed in name only and even then it appears to have done so only because the Senate excells in doing nothing. Then a few days later it does get exended (and the Whitehouse is just itching to sign it into law) under a new name no one can complain about. FREEDOM ACT, see it's all about your freedom, while it extends surveillance. Rand Paul gets his 'see I blocked government surveillance' and the government gets its surveillance. It's a win-win for the Government. The NSA's actions were 'illegal' before. They will continue to do it. No one seriously expects them to stop. They'll just change program names. Apple can use a little bit of media attention to sell cell phones. And Google? Really, Google, the company along with Facebook that basically is synonymous with surveillance and tracking. None of this shows any mass rejection of the governments surveillance programs, because there hasn't been any.