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

We Only Have Hours Left to Stop the NSA Expansion Bill

eff.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 189 posts

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

#71

Post by peeters »

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 wonder what would happen if everyone advocating against these individual things put all of those fights on hold and spent every bit of lobbying effort into campaign finance reform.

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

#73

Post by jameskegel »

sandworm101 wrote: post #40
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?

Stephen Frye did a nature series a few years ago called "last chance to see" in which he expressed the notion that environmentalists are so dismayed and tired that they are ready to give up and accept the future. I'm starting to feel that way about US democracy. I used to work in the US (lawyer) but have returned to Canada. I feel like I am sitting on a hill watching Rome burn. Why bother trying to help when the Roma…

As much as Canada’s own legislation is shaped by US events, I hope you don’t sit on that hill long- you should be offline gathering metaphorical water buckets.

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

#75

Post by mattmanser »

Bartweiss wrote: post #42
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?

Yes, yes I am. For years, my two biggest spheres of advocacy have been environmentalism and privacy/anti-surveillance. What I've noticed, with that background, is that privacy activism has steadily become more like environmental activism. With rare exceptions (e.g. the ozone layer), environmentalism is an endless, grinding rear-guard action. Extinct species do not become unextinct. Destroyed habitats do not recover,…

And depressingly it won't rollback until tyrannical governments get in power and run amok.

The sheer damage politicians across the world are inflicting on future generations with these privacy laws are very depressing.

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

#76

Post by camelCaseOfBeer »

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?

The greatest ruse ever perpetrated on the American people was that we stand divided from one another and our own self interests based on ideological lines; articulated by ego-driven flesh puppets, vote for your favorite color like a 4 year old posed with the same inquiry. "What's your favorite color?" Bleh, we need real representation, real discussion of building the real utilitarian future. I think a good start would be choice between real representatives acting on behalf of more than one side of the same bloody coin. In short, liberal lovey-dovey pussies like me and knuckle-dragging conservatards agree, this mother fucker needs to burn.

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

#77

Post by sethgecko »

Bartweiss wrote: post #42
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?

Yes, yes I am. For years, my two biggest spheres of advocacy have been environmentalism and privacy/anti-surveillance. What I've noticed, with that background, is that privacy activism has steadily become more like environmental activism. With rare exceptions (e.g. the ozone layer), environmentalism is an endless, grinding rear-guard action. Extinct species do not become unextinct. Destroyed habitats do not recover,…

Kinda off-topic but

  4,500 species are critically endangered right now
Based on the fact that more than 99.9% of all the species are now extinct, how is this an alarming sign? It seems like a part of the natural evolutionary process.

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

#78

Post by jameskegel »

giardini wrote: post #67
logfromblammo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I’m curious at what point civility breaks down in a failing state, at what level does his course of action make sense? I like to establish these limits before emotion can cloud judgement. He may be brash but he’s not wrong yet.

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

#79

Post by whatshisface »

Bartweiss wrote: post #42
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?

Yes, yes I am. For years, my two biggest spheres of advocacy have been environmentalism and privacy/anti-surveillance. What I've noticed, with that background, is that privacy activism has steadily become more like environmental activism. With rare exceptions (e.g. the ozone layer), environmentalism is an endless, grinding rear-guard action. Extinct species do not become unextinct. Destroyed habitats do not recover,…

Maybe we'll end up with a new political subculture that derives pride and some sense of personal identity from fighting this stuff; just like gun people almost enjoy supporting the NRA. (In some way I think computer rights would be a lot more fun to support if a large fraction of the public was against it, then we would have the satisfaction of arguing.)

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

#80

Post by bo1024 »

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…

Sure, the principle doesn't always blindly work. If everyone uses one technology, that can be a single point of failure (one backdoor and we're all doomed). But think about https for example. It's just plain good for security and anonymity and everyone should use it as much as possible.
Post reply on HN