Last year Edward Snowden made public the fact that the United States Government was information gathering on its citizens. This revelation caused a huge stir in BOTH mainstream and alternative media, and inside my circle of friends, became a minor talking point: The United States Government was spying on its citizens.
As I see it, it all boils down to this: big eff’ing deal.
So let me ask you this… Does your email end in @gmail.com or @yahoo.com? Do you have a Facebook page? Do you believe that these companies provide these services to you free of charge?
If you aren’t paying for it then realize that you are the product that they are selling. Those companies data mine your content and use the information to promote advertising revenue. Ever wonder why the ads on the side of your gmail account seem to know exactly what you have an interest in? How Facebook can be worth billions if you don’t have to pay for your Facebook page? If you think that pizza that got delivered to your house free of charge was truly free, then type your name into zabasearch.com and look at what the pizza companies do with your name and address. Guess what… every cell phone company out there sells their subscriber data to outside parties. It’s called business.
I find it curious that so many people who claim their privacy is so important to them post pictures of their kids, cat, drinking with their friends, their last meal, their house, and let everyone know where they currently are? How important is privacy to them, really?
Facebook: where privacy goes to die.
Companies like Facebook and Google guard their information more closely than the golem guarded his precious. A few years back, the US Department of Justice was attempting to show how ITS policies and enforcement had decreased the amount of child pornography in the United States and they went to Google for data to justify the statistics. Google fought them all the way to the Supreme Court. “Filthy little HOBBITS (government). Can’t no one have my precioussssssssss,” Smeagol (Google) said.
I know why the US government wanted that data. But why did Google fight so hard to maintain it? Out of principle? Is protecting the results of child pornography searches a principle worth fighting for? Pardon my french, but I call bullshi t. They fought tooth and nail because the instant they give up their information for free, they lose their commodity. Information isn’t free, information is power. And Google didn’t get to be the big kid on the block by giving their power away. When Google gives you something, they get something in return. Like the Joker said, “if you’re good at something, you don’t do it for free.”
So… to everyone that says that thinks that Edward Snowden is a hero, I believe you are wrong. Snowden is no hero.
Like with every President, I don’t agree with everything that President Obama has done in his presidency, but I completely agree with his decision to collect this information. Because he is living up to the government mandate of “insuring domestic tranquility” and “providing for the common defense.”
So I have to say this again… big deal if the government is looking at who I call. Their mandate is to “insure domestic tranquility” and “provide for the common defense.”
Yesterday our enemies wanted to destroy our government and take us (U.S. citizens) as their prize. They (for the most part) stood up and said, “here we are, this is how we dress, this is what we do, and this is where we are.” The previous threats to the US were nation states with an agenda. The biggest threat to the US today are those with ideologies that have no loyalty to a nation state. Today our enemies dress like us, act like us, and want to kill us indiscriminately. Our enemy has evolved. Our tactics have to evolve.
So think again: How much information is really private today? If you’re not doing anything wrong, why is it so important to be scared of the government knowing who you call?
Ask yourself this: are you concerned that someone in the U.S. Government has access to your last youtube video of “bikini clad female midget greco-roman jello wrestling?”
Because guess what? Google already already knows.
Patrick S is a Google enthusiast who lives in the Bay area and works for the government.
OMG, I’m so glad you said / wrote this! I’ve been thinking that too and wondered how people STILL think their lives are completely private. In this (post) modern age, with all the information technology that we all use, can anyone still rationally expect that Big Brother doesn’t exist? This might be a bit extreme of me to say but, the moment I became active online, facebook, blogging, twitter, email, etc, I resigned myself to the reality that by doing so, I’ve already chosen to sell myself (or whatever I put out there) to the www ‘gods’. As Rena said above, ‘Enough said’. :-))
The United States Government was breaching the law and the Constitution: tapping on citizen phone conversations, emails, private messaging without the authorization of a judge.
The Government is not all-powerful (that’s a dictatorship otherwise) and is compelled to respect the law. That’s basic democracy.
Apparently, we are faster at chasing Snowden (a whistleblower that can’t hurt anyone anymore) is a much bigger priority than suing the NSA, FBI, and CIA who breached the law.
Not sure what it says about ‘democracy in America’.
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I couldn’t agree more! Enough said.
OMG, I’m so glad you said / wrote this! I’ve been thinking that too and wondered how people STILL think their lives are completely private. In this (post) modern age, with all the information technology that we all use, can anyone still rationally expect that Big Brother doesn’t exist? This might be a bit extreme of me to say but, the moment I became active online, facebook, blogging, twitter, email, etc, I resigned myself to the reality that by doing so, I’ve already chosen to sell myself (or whatever I put out there) to the www ‘gods’. As Rena said above, ‘Enough said’. :-))
The United States Government was breaching the law and the Constitution: tapping on citizen phone conversations, emails, private messaging without the authorization of a judge.
The Government is not all-powerful (that’s a dictatorship otherwise) and is compelled to respect the law. That’s basic democracy.
Apparently, we are faster at chasing Snowden (a whistleblower that can’t hurt anyone anymore) is a much bigger priority than suing the NSA, FBI, and CIA who breached the law.
Not sure what it says about ‘democracy in America’.
Democracy in America is very shaky, as we saw on Jan 6 and by the brainless traitors that day and who still open their mouths.