Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees

theintercept.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 321 posts

Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees

#11

Post by yareally »

darpa_escapee wrote: post #2

FBI started out as the Pinkerton agency. They identified and intimidated/killed strikers, workers planning to unionize and anyone that got in the way of business. This isn't surprising.

I think you mean the Secret Service started out as the Pinkerton Detective Agency. They became part of the government due in part of protecting the president and investigation into monetary related crime.

The FBI came in early 20th century as a need to address more conventional crime that crossed state lines and made it difficult for states to investigate/prosecute (organized crime, kidnapping, bootlegging). While you could say it had a valid reason to exist, J. Edgar Hoover morphed it into something entirely different.

Edit: To clarify my hastily typed up message from my phone, the Pinkertons were government contractors and precursor to the Secret Service, but not the same entity. Secret Service did not officially protect the president until the assassination of President McKinley in 1901.

Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees

#12

Post by JohnTHaller »

TenOhms wrote: post #5
devoply wrote: post #3

The message here is clear: Don't protest or you might lose your job. I will say it again, despite being down-voted last time, these are chilling effects on activism in the United States. They prevent democracy from happening. This means democracy is broken and needs fixing. Activism is the only way that egregious problems like racism in the United States got fixed, without activism black people would still be under J…

What kind of activism are you referring to? The peaceful gatherings with signs and petitions, or the kind with assaults, battery, looting and vandalism on others for speaking their side?

If you get to conflate the handful of anarchists breaking windows and setting fires the night before with the 3m of us who marched peacefully during the Women's March, then we get to conflate all Trump voters with the literal nazis - as in "Sieg Heil", nazi salute, call themselves "nazis" - that voted for him and celebrated his victory. It's only fair.

(And, yes, I'm saying that both of these things are a bad idea since tone tends to be lost particularly in online political discussion.)

Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees

#13

Post by devoply »

TenOhms wrote: post #10
devoply wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Activism is activism, sometimes it's peaceful and sometimes it gets out of hand depending on the people involved which any one activist can't control, sometime those people work for the government. When you have reporters being arrested at events, I almost certainly know it's not the reporters being violent. And to place these sorts of limits on protesting is again chilling effects.

I've never heard of anyone being arrested for peaceful protests, not since Martin Luther King at least. I'm not saying it doesn't happen ever (your case might be a good example), but peaceful protests virtually never led to arrests.

That's most likely because you have not been looking.

https://www.google.com/search?&q=non+violent+protestors+arre...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/12/amy-goodman-...

Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees

#14

Post by suprgeek »

Beautiful - Go to protest against Trump (or even to document it [1]) - get arrested and charged with "Rioting", "Disturbing the Peace" or my most favorite "Resisting Arrest[2]" - get an Arrest Record - Get fired immediately thanks to RAP BACK - Charges get dropped.

Rinse and repeat.

Welcome Absolute Fascism.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/24/journalists-ch... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=92toXdu2KR0

Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees

#15

Post by leereeves »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #12
TenOhms wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of activism are you referring to? The peaceful gatherings with signs and petitions, or the kind with assaults, battery, looting and vandalism on others for speaking their side?

If you get to conflate the handful of anarchists breaking windows and setting fires the night before with the 3m of us who marched peacefully during the Women's March, then we get to conflate all Trump voters with the literal nazis - as in "Sieg Heil", nazi salute, call themselves "nazis" - that voted for him and celebrated his victory. It's only fair. (And, yes, I'm saying that both of these things are a bad idea si…

Violence wasn't limited to a handful of anarchists during the inauguration.

There have been numerous incidents of assault, arson, vandalism, looting, and such during protests for at least a couple years now, starting with BLM protests long before Trump and the election.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferguson_unrest

Some prominent activists have even defended these acts. For example, Deeray McKesson called In Defense of Looting "absolute required reading".

https://twitter.com/deray/status/524704650218729473

Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees

#16

Post by yardie »

TenOhms wrote: post #10
devoply wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Activism is activism, sometimes it's peaceful and sometimes it gets out of hand depending on the people involved which any one activist can't control, sometime those people work for the government. When you have reporters being arrested at events, I almost certainly know it's not the reporters being violent. And to place these sorts of limits on protesting is again chilling effects.

I've never heard of anyone being arrested for peaceful protests, not since Martin Luther King at least. I'm not saying it doesn't happen ever (your case might be a good example), but peaceful protests virtually never led to arrests.

^^ alternative facts, folks!

Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees

#17

Post by grzm »

yardie wrote: post #16
TenOhms wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard of anyone being arrested for peaceful protests, not since Martin Luther King at least. I'm not saying it doesn't happen ever (your case might be a good example), but peaceful protests virtually never led to arrests.

^^ alternative facts, folks!

Please stop with the canned dismissal memes. The poster may honestly be unaware of any such examples. Regardless, a comment such as yours doesn't add substantively to the conversation. Much better to provide evidence, as sibling comments have done.

Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees

#18

Post by danaliv »

TenOhms wrote: post #10
devoply wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Activism is activism, sometimes it's peaceful and sometimes it gets out of hand depending on the people involved which any one activist can't control, sometime those people work for the government. When you have reporters being arrested at events, I almost certainly know it's not the reporters being violent. And to place these sorts of limits on protesting is again chilling effects.

I've never heard of anyone being arrested for peaceful protests, not since Martin Luther King at least. I'm not saying it doesn't happen ever (your case might be a good example), but peaceful protests virtually never led to arrests.

You've never heard of it, really? Do tell us all about the comprehensive research you've done on this matter.

Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees

#19

Post by TenOhms »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #12
TenOhms wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of activism are you referring to? The peaceful gatherings with signs and petitions, or the kind with assaults, battery, looting and vandalism on others for speaking their side?

If you get to conflate the handful of anarchists breaking windows and setting fires the night before with the 3m of us who marched peacefully during the Women's March, then we get to conflate all Trump voters with the literal nazis - as in "Sieg Heil", nazi salute, call themselves "nazis" - that voted for him and celebrated his victory. It's only fair. (And, yes, I'm saying that both of these things are a bad idea si…

I didn't conflate anything, I'm merely trying to discern which side of the legal spectrum this fear is being directed towards. Judging by the reaction to my questions, I'm guessing it's towards the unlawful.

Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees

#20

Post by dec0dedab0de »

analogmemory wrote: post #4
devoply wrote: post #3

The message here is clear: Don't protest or you might lose your job. I will say it again, despite being down-voted last time, these are chilling effects on activism in the United States. They prevent democracy from happening. This means democracy is broken and needs fixing. Activism is the only way that egregious problems like racism in the United States got fixed, without activism black people would still be under J…

If I lose my job for protesting or activism then fuck that employer. There should be a database of companies that fire people for their off hours activism.

it should start with a list of companies that publicly state that their employees are allowed to protest, even if the company disagrees with them.
Post reply on HN