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

theintercept.com

41–50 of 321 posts

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

#41
post #21
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…

> racism in the United States got fixed Did I miss a memo? There are more black men under state custody or supervision in the United States today for acts that no sensible person regards as criminal (drugs) than were enslaved in 1850.

While that was an overstatement, laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States have been fixed (Jim Crow).

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

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You tried to move the goalposts where you wanted them; I moved the conversation back to the overall topic. The comment you replied to didn't mention anything about the inauguration, the Women's March, Trump, or the election.

I spoke to the specific event I personally attended (the Women's March) that has been called violent by many Trump supporters.

> The peaceful gatherings with signs and petitions, or the kind with assaults, battery, looting and vandalism on others for speaking their side?

I'd say the Women's March was the first kind, and, for example, the recent Berkeley-Milo protest was the second.

And I think the question in the quote is appropriate. Surely we don't intend the First Amendment to protect people the UC Chancellor reportedly described as: "more than 100 armed people in masks and dark uniforms who used paramilitary tactics to engage in violent destructive behavior intended to shut the event down."

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/opinion/violence-at-be...

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

#43

The difference is that the leaders (Linda Sarsour to name one) of things like the womens march are, to borrow a phrase from someone, deplorable people. By contrast, the people you're talking about on the right are properly and quietly marginalized. The right tell the deplorable people on their side to shut up and fuck off home, the left champion them and put them on stage (like the unrepentant child rapist Lena Dunha…

[deleted]

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

#44
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Your solution for a problematic database is to create a problematic database?

What's problematic about the database your parent comment proposed?

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

#45
post #41
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> racism in the United States got fixed Did I miss a memo? There are more black men under state custody or supervision in the United States today for acts that no sensible person regards as criminal (drugs) than were enslaved in 1850.

While that was an overstatement, laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States have been fixed (Jim Crow).

Really though, enforcing racial segregation by policy or law never ended. Redlining is just one example of MANY.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining

What's unfortunate now is how many people believe our incredibly segregated neighbourhood and work environments are the way they are either by choice or circumstance rather than by deliberate planning and design to oppress and mitigate political and economic power.

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

#46
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite the troubling implication of such program, I doubt democracy isn't happening. Indeed, people are already barred from work opportunities by the virtue of having any criminal background, including arrest records. This is acknowledged as a growing problem in our society.

> any criminal background, including arrest records Aren't arrest records for dismissed charges sealed? Innocent until proven guilty makes punishing an employee for charges unseemly. Punishing for convictions, however, strikes me as fine.

What's that search result for a sealed arrest record? "No records" or "sealed"? Because if it's "sealed", guess who's losing their job...

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

#47
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.

The punishment is the record not the warning. After that you are excluded from middle class jobs.

Gotta hand it to these scumbags, they built a nice tight system.

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

#48
post #10
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.

it happens so often that san francisco has a policy of dropping all arrest charges.. in the courts, on the court date you are required to attend, unfortunately.. when said arrests occurred during protests

i know from experience and talking directly with the arresting officers, and my assigned defense attorney, and the judge that dropped mine and a number of other identical charges in the room

> A protester at the NC General Assembly invites her arresting officer to Christmas dinner. She was one of several arrested while protesting a power grab by Republican legislators during a surprise special session.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-p...

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

#49
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your solution for a problematic database is to create a problematic database?

What's problematic about the database your parent comment proposed?

How would you verify that an employee was fired for peaceful protest or that self-reporter even worked for the company? Would you demand that a company admit this was the reason or would you trust the person that created the entry for the employer? How would an employer get itself off this list? How would you avoid libel? How would you verify the identity of the person making the entry and that person is even in the "RAP BACK" database? How would you prevent verified self-reporters from being discriminated against for future employment?

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

#50
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite the troubling implication of such program, I doubt democracy isn't happening. Indeed, people are already barred from work opportunities by the virtue of having any criminal background, including arrest records. This is acknowledged as a growing problem in our society.

> any criminal background, including arrest records Aren't arrest records for dismissed charges sealed? Innocent until proven guilty makes punishing an employee for charges unseemly. Punishing for convictions, however, strikes me as fine.

>Punishing for convictions, however, strikes me as fine

I do get the reason people think this way.

However, making it impossible to find a job after doing your time isn't a good thing for society. It just encourages more crime.

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