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A Story of Surveillance (2007)

washingtonpost.com

1–10 of 23 posts

Re: A Story of Surveillance (2007)

#3
post #2

I would be interested to see if Mr. Klein achieved something in his fight against NSA's surveillance program. It was back in 2007 and now we have 2013. Five years gone.

I'd say it's more likely his life is destroyed, I would love to know how he's making a living today.

Either way, he's not the one who was supposed to have "achieved something" in that battle, we were, the people should have reacted. They didn't, and they won't this time either. Sorry but we're just too complacent with all our luxuries and comforts.

Re: A Story of Surveillance (2007)

#4
I am still pretty confused about how this community seems to not have known these programs existed. It has been widely reported almost since inception. Not to mention the broad record of previous land line recording programs.

Re: A Story of Surveillance (2007)

#5
post #3
post #2

I would be interested to see if Mr. Klein achieved something in his fight against NSA's surveillance program. It was back in 2007 and now we have 2013. Five years gone.

I'd say it's more likely his life is destroyed, I would love to know how he's making a living today. Either way, he's not the one who was supposed to have "achieved something" in that battle, we were, the people should have reacted. They didn't, and they won't this time either. Sorry but we're just too complacent with all our luxuries and comforts.

He was already retired when that article was written.

Re: A Story of Surveillance (2007)

#6
post #3
post #2

I would be interested to see if Mr. Klein achieved something in his fight against NSA's surveillance program. It was back in 2007 and now we have 2013. Five years gone.

I'd say it's more likely his life is destroyed, I would love to know how he's making a living today. Either way, he's not the one who was supposed to have "achieved something" in that battle, we were, the people should have reacted. They didn't, and they won't this time either. Sorry but we're just too complacent with all our luxuries and comforts.

For most individuals things like these don't matter afterall. It's a small minority which even cares, so I don't really even wonder anymore.

Just mind your own business and avoid problems, that works the best for an individual person. Sad but true.

Re: A Story of Surveillance (2007)

#7
When it comes to damage-reduction, I think the most immediate step going forward that can be done on the side of the private sector is to stop collecting, as much as possible, extensive profiles on people, especially profiles that are, or easily can be, tied to their real identity. For those of us who aren't doing so ourselves, we can pressure companies not to do so, either those we work for, or those we interact with as customers. This can either mean not collecting profiles at all, collecting limited ones only as needed, and/or collecting them tied to pseudonyms rather than making use of real-names mandatory or default.

I realize it can be commercially valuable to have such profiles when it comes to things like targeting ads or financial instruments, but on the whole I think the damage such data can do, if it exists, outweighs that justification. To take a concrete example, the side of the internal Google+ "nymwars" who were against the real-name requirement were right.

Of course, we should also work to keep corporate and government data collection separate. But I fear that will be a longer-term struggle, in which case an avenue to pursue simultaneously is to minimize corporate data-collection.

Re: A Story of Surveillance (2007)

#8
post #4

I am still pretty confused about how this community seems to not have known these programs existed. It has been widely reported almost since inception. Not to mention the broad record of previous land line recording programs.

I'm getting tired of seeing comments like this everywhere, which serve little use. Yes, it's been going on for a long time. Yes, many people have been aware of such programs as small bits have been leaked over the years. Yes, many of us have been angry about it for a long time.

The difference this time is not specifically the new information but the fact that it hasn't successfully been buried in the news after a day or two so far and people are in fact getting more upset about it. This is a good thing. If people aren't talking about it, the chance of doing anything about it and expressing mass disapproval is significantly reduced.

Maybe nothing will happen this time either, but a lot of people are angry about it at the same time, and finally talking about it en masse, and I don't see that as anything but a great thing.

Re: A Story of Surveillance (2007)

#9
post #4

I am still pretty confused about how this community seems to not have known these programs existed. It has been widely reported almost since inception. Not to mention the broad record of previous land line recording programs.

Critical thinking is hard, indignance is easy.

Re: A Story of Surveillance (2007)

#10

When it comes to damage-reduction, I think the most immediate step going forward that can be done on the side of the private sector is to stop collecting, as much as possible, extensive profiles on people, especially profiles that are, or easily can be, tied to their real identity. For those of us who aren't doing so ourselves, we can pressure companies not to do so, either those we work for, or those we interact wit…

>I think the most immediate step going forward that can be done on the side of the private sector is to stop collecting, as much as possible, extensive profiles on people, especially profiles that are, or easily can be, tied to their real identity.

So Google and Facebook should commit Seppuku?

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