Panicked politicos, in Washington and elsewhere, are using the Paris attacks to push for even greater and more invasive government surveillance of individuals. They’re blaming encryption and other privacy measures for “allowing” ISIS terrorists to coordinate their attacks undetected. They want to end the technology that makes privacy possible, and leave everyone effectively naked to Big Brother’s all-seeing eye.
So I tell you what. You say it’s dangerous to let people have secrets, Mr. Politico? Let’s start with yours then. You want to put an end to dangerous secrets, let’s start by ending this ridiculous notion of “state secrets.” A corrupt government has far more power to do harm than any individual. If you’re not doing anything wrong, then you shouldn’t have anything to hide, amirite? What are you not telling us about your own contributions to the rise of ISIS? What flaws and faults are you hiding that will continue to endanger us because you prevent us from knowing you have them? What crimes are you committing, in the dark, that are going to come back to bite us?
Your secrets are far more dangerous than ours, and our privacy is far more vital to liberty than the government’s. You want to howl for an end to secrets, knock yourself out. But if it comes time to surrender someone’s privacy, you go first.
B-bu -but national secuirty!!!!!11tyone.
Incidentally, vaguely recall reading somewhere that both the USA & USSR had thoroughly infiltrated each other with spies and knew all each other secrets (well mostly?) during the Cold War and what good did it really do either side?
>both the USA & USSR had thoroughly infiltrated each other with spies and knew all each other secrets (well mostly?) during the Cold War and what good did it really do either side?
Since “winning” the Cold War implied nuclear annihilation it’s sort of irrelevant. Virtually all Russian technology was stolen from the West, so it worked fairly well for Russia. The forces working to keep cryptography ahead are mainly interested in protecting their IP, not anyone’s porn collection.
Yes. Exactly.
It’s not really a secret that the U.S. is responsible for the existence and success of ISIS. The issue when it comes to this sort of thing is who the media (mainly Fox News and CNN) is beholden to. Big media companies don’t bother to investigate or report on the long term history if ISIS, they compete for most recent and most sensational, and access to politicians who won’t talk to you if you say anything negative about them or their policies. There isn’t even a need for deniability since there are no public accusations being made.
The media accepts government-provided evidence as unquestionable, without any actual reliable source, regardless of whether it’s against private individuals or foreign governments. The media convicts individuals, and the courts and judges are then the ones who are judged based on how closely their decisions match the media’s, and so we have people who are hiding from extradition because they are quite aware of this fact.
Despite the quickly forgotten history of all that the media has helped bring about, the media is still and always will be on board the gravy train to war. There simply hasn’t been any downside for them. Courage now means being embedded with the troops instead of questioning why they are there.
So what it boils down to is that your freedom and privacy are in the palms of people who consume Fox News and CNN, not the government, and not even the media. It’s irrational to blame food for obesity.
Yes, indeed. One of the largest conspiracies to export terror is located in the CIA headquarters. They do a whole lot of nasty under the cloak of secrecy.
And what’s worse… we already know that our government has acted less than ethically in the past. The actors may be different, but the roles remain the same.