Given the most recent revelation about government data-gathering and analysis, that Britain’s GCHQ has collected and analyzed vast number of phone calls and shared them with the NSA, it might be a good time to re-read H. G. Wells’s 1897 novella, The Invisible Man. Recall that Wells wasn’t just a science fiction writer but a student of history and futurist. In the novella invisibility isn’t only the power of stealth; it is the power of information. And, ultimately and inevitably, it brings madness and misery right along with it.
The quote of the day today surely belongs to Richard Haass, now president of the Council on Foreign Relations but formerly Director of Policy Planning for the State Department. Speaking on ABC’s This Week in defense of the NSA’s data collection, Mr. Haass noted: “It’s impossible to keep this information secret”. Remember that when you’re assured that every phone call you make and every Internet site you visit will be kept strictly private from local law enforcement, the courts, your competitors, your wife, and your boss.
I wonder how many of those defending the NSA’s data collection and analysis projects have unlisted telephone numbers. What do they have to hide?
You also might want to take a look at law prof Laura Donohue’s explanation of why the NSA’s surveillance activities might be legal but they’re also unconstitutional.
I have yet to make a clear decision on how to classify Snowden’s NSA public disclosure, as to it’s being either noble or villainous. What I do find noteworthy is that those who view his actions with disdain tend to be the indoctrinated social progressives on the left, and the classic neocon, on the authoritarian right. Both of these groups also share an intrenched belief system based on their own version of ideological statism, which Snowden seemed to have stepped on or out-right violated by his surveillance disclosures.
However, on ZeroHedge this morning a poster reminded me of the cautious advice given by Thomas Jefferson:“All tyranny needs to gain a foot hold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” In this vein I think Snowden’s deeds (whether thought of as good or bad) have indeed focused needed light on not only the secret surveillance being covertly organized around us, but also the tightening of civil liberties by ever-increasing powers of an insanely growing centralized government — be it under Bush, Obama, or someone else to follow, of any party affiliation.
An analogy to this might be derived from a local natural weed abatement program in N. CA. Here there is an environmentally planned coastal community shuttling herds of sheep around, to munch on grassy knolls, in order to control the weeds in common areas, Every 2-3 days the sheep get a new pasture of dried grasses to consume — their main source of containment being a rather flimsy-looking solar charged fence that efficiently and discreetly rolls up when taken down. The sheep, though, seem content to roam around enjoying their daily sources of food and water, seemingly unaware of being surrounded by fencing that will zap them should they want to leave. It’s docile programming. And, that’s what I think is happening to many in this country. They are being placated by massively doled out government services, in exchange for a definitive cordoning off of their rights, an abridgement of their privacy, and a curtailment of too much achievement or individuality. Snowden may essentially be guilty of exposing the zap in our government’s security policies. It will then be up to us whether or not we are contented or discomforted by having gained access to such knowledge.
That’s a good quote but I don’t believe it was ever said either by Thomas Jefferson or by Edmund Burke, to whom it is most often attributed. Indeed, there’s quite an irony since that’s probably the most famous quotation from Burke and he never said it.
I think it’s actually a line from a Soviet film adaptation of War and Peace which puts quite a different spin on it, doesn’t it?
Seems to me we can wrangle with legality, constitutionality and so on but there is one bottom line. The notion that enterprising persons will not find a way to use this information in an untoward fashion is absurd on its face, assurances from government authorities notwithstanding.
I attributed ZeroHedge as the source of the quote, as well as who they asserted said it — Jefferson. Yes, it’s a good quote. It’s also thought-provoking and relating to many issues of government expansion (NSA) and deceit (IRS, Benghazi, DOJ) we are witnessing today. Apparently many poignant and frequently used sayings are incorrectly labeled as to whom originally created them — Jefferson and Lincoln being two of the favorites in this department.
However, the essence of the quote is what matters here, conveying concerns that one should never take their freedoms or rights for granted. All loosely held freedoms are subject to erosion, and can change in a nano second through incremental but cumulative governmental encroachments. All we have to do is allow them to be diluted or entirely diminished, by today’s politicos, of any ideological persuasion, via couching legal intrusions as benign but necessary ‘safety’ measures etc. Tomorrow, though, these same measures could provide enough bureaucratic clout and fortification nullifying a citizen’s right to hold and voice contrary opinions (such as was done to selected conservatives and their organizations by the IRS), or exercise options, other than those sanctioned by the government (ACA).
My posts arent sticking for some reason, but what I said before is mostly what Drew said. If the private providers have this information, and if it is legally their data not that of the person using the service, how can we possibly keep it private? They are even finding ways around Tor and other anonymous services. Once we have quantum computing, encryption as we know it no longer works. I am coming to the conclusion that it will be impossible to keep this data from being stored. The best we can hope for is to have fairly strict rules on when and how govt can access the data.
Steve