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We Only Have Hours Left to Stop the NSA Expansion Bill

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Re: We Only Have Hours Left to Stop the NSA Expansion Bill

#61

Post by mLuby »

iovrthoughtthis wrote: post #5

Is anyone else fatigued? The effort required, ontop of just having a normal functioning life, to parse and make decisions around potential future law is incredible. Isn't this what elected officials are ment to do on our behalf?

An antidote to fatigue is automation!

I'd be happy to give EFF posting ability for this issue on my social media accounts. And I'd be fine with them using my voice and signature to generate voicemails and letters to my elected officials. if they abuse that power (which I doubt they would) I bet they'd be much more responsive to "their constituents" and also social media at least it's easy enough to de-auth integrations.

Re: We Only Have Hours Left to Stop the NSA Expansion Bill

#62

Post by 0xfeba »

wu-ikkyu wrote: post #53
0xfeba wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obama expanded the program, yes. He did not create it. And also, many other groups I donate to are just swamping me with non-NSA stuff related to Trump and the GOP, so that's also what I meant. But still, yes, I feel democrats have a better chance of at least listening to constituent concerns about privacy. The GOP wallies about small government, except for the military and they view the NSA/FBI/CIA as the same. But…

This is a false dichotomy which is enabling to the surveillance state.

When was the last time a 3rd party candidate won?

Re: We Only Have Hours Left to Stop the NSA Expansion Bill

#63

Post by wu-ikkyu »

nerdponx wrote: post #19
d33 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your threat model? Unless you name what you're afraid of and what you're trying to hide, you're just feeding paranoia and it's unhealthy. And I'm not trying to say you should do nothing - the steps you suggest would at the very least increase the cost for NSA to collect data, potentially making it scale less or even make you fly under the radar. Still, if you want those rather uncomfortable actions to become h…

I have a deep moral opposition to this kind of spying, and making it more difficult is an end in and of itself. I also don't consider them terribly uncomfortable, but that is my opinion and no one else's. I also personally would prefer not to be spied on. I do not want my day-to-day activities monitored by anyone but myself. In the event that the government starts curtailing freedoms or particular kinds of behavior a…

>So I guess my threat model is "generalized spying"

In this case, you should be proactive not only against NSA, but GOOG, FB, your ISP etc.

You should look into Tails OS if you haven't already.

Re: We Only Have Hours Left to Stop the NSA Expansion Bill

#64

Post by choward »

wu-ikkyu wrote: post #60
trisimix wrote: post #11

Is there plan to bombard the american public on so many fronts that they accept mass surveillance? What the actual fuck is wrong with this country.

Reminds me of when MSNBC cut off NSA criticism with "breaking news" about Justin Bieber https://youtu.be/GH68bSJXGE8

I didn't realize everything wrong with the world today could be summarized in such a short video.

Re: We Only Have Hours Left to Stop the NSA Expansion Bill

#65

Post by dmode »

iovrthoughtthis wrote: post #5

Is anyone else fatigued? The effort required, ontop of just having a normal functioning life, to parse and make decisions around potential future law is incredible. Isn't this what elected officials are ment to do on our behalf?

I am fatigued constantly fighting for NN, Healthcare, Women's choice, environment etc. Don't have any energy left to fight for privacy. I suspect this is by design.

Re: We Only Have Hours Left to Stop the NSA Expansion Bill

#67

Post by giardini »

logfromblammo wrote: post #55
twothamendment wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I advocate the peaceful destruction of their facility in Utah... How? Either voting doesn't work or we as a people are too collective stupid to vote for anyone different. How many like Reid, Fienstien and Hatch just keep getting elected despite their actions? Maybe we need some real people to run? Maybe we need to be smart enough to vote them in (and out when their time is up - I'm looking at you, Hatch). A there l…

Shut the water off. There won't be enough cooling for the servers. Maybe shoot a hole in the bottom of a big, oil-filled transformer at the nearest power substation.

This is at least the second post on this topic in which logfromblammo has suggested that people perform criminal acts. (S)he earlier suggested keying cars and cutting tires.

Those are simply wrong and criminal.

Re: We Only Have Hours Left to Stop the NSA Expansion Bill

#68

Post by noahdesu »

iovrthoughtthis wrote: post #5

Is anyone else fatigued? The effort required, ontop of just having a normal functioning life, to parse and make decisions around potential future law is incredible. Isn't this what elected officials are ment to do on our behalf?

So completely fatigued. It is exhausting keeping up with everything, and on top of that, many issues are truly important, not merely in the realm of political junkie. What's depressing is that so much of what's going on right now feels like a waste of time; provide the means by which I can stay healthy and safe, and I'd much prefer to be thinking about a totally different set of policies.

The next time you are working, totally in the zone, or in a research meeting talking about fascinating new technology, or really doing anything of substance, just stop. And think about the fragile shit happening with policy changes and tweets. what. the. fuck.

Re: We Only Have Hours Left to Stop the NSA Expansion Bill

#69

Post by 1457389 »

bluntfang wrote: post #59
bo1024 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unless you name what you're afraid of and what you're trying to hide I think of it a little differently. I am trying to be part of a collective movement toward as much privacy as possible so that those who do need to protect themselves can have access to the tools they need and won't stick out when they use them. A sort of herd immunity. I guess a good start are habits that neutralize automated mass surveillance. T…

>I am trying to be part of a collective movement toward as much privacy as possible so that those who do need to protect themselves can have access to the tools they need and won't stick out when they use them. A sort of herd immunity. by creating a standard you are effectively creating an easy way and/or justification to automate against that standard. I think your logic is sound, but consider the big picture. The m…

They don't need much more incentive to arrogate power; I don't think there is much hope in changing that calculus.

>Let us speak no more of faith in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of cryptography.

Re: We Only Have Hours Left to Stop the NSA Expansion Bill

#70

Post by haZard_OS »

tfha wrote: post #22
letsgetphysITal wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, we are all fatigued, and that is how they win. Can't get your Bill through? Rename it and submit again. Still won't work? Tack it onto a Medicaid / NASA funding bill. Still won't get through? Change the wording so that it becomes more vague and open to interpretation in your favour and start again. Bonus points if you give it a name involving patriotism, freedom, economic or personal health, or a backromym that…

How can we fight against these patterns? Amendments? Force bills to be broken up? Only allow a bill to be submitted once a decade? Our system is definitely broken, but I have no idea what type of changes might prevent these abuses

Robert's Rules of Order (the Cadillac of parliamentary procedure texts) contains a few simple rules concerning this issue.

Simply put, no person may add content to a proposal that is not directly related to the original proposal. You want to add a rider to an HHS funding bill to also fund your pet project? Too bad. You want to include language in a standard farm bill about the second amendment? Not gonna happen.

Under these rules, proposals/bills are forced into MUCH smaller packages and the ability of any particular legislator to sneak in lobbied language becomes stymied.

Congress does not have these simple rules in place. We should force them to adopt the relevant section(s) of Robert's Rules of Order.

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