America under Surveillance . . .

[jtksu]

You just quote a sticker you saw in a bar? 

[sonofdaxjones]

Yep . . . don't start tarding up my thread jt.

[06wildcat]

Always laugh at the "paranoid much" response.

Yet I could literally fill pages of articles from reputable sources discussing all of these issues.  

One of the big problem is, so many people drink the kool-aid they just accept it.

Saw a cool sticker in a wine and beer bar I was in downtown in my fair city.   "Tyranny is cobbled together through a series of seemingly benign acts and laws".

Just listened to the Science show on NPR . . . and they were discussing the Worm that is infecting industrial machines . . . very sophisticated and likely coming from a source either directly or indirectly associated with a government/intelligence agency given its actions and sophistication.   This will only serve up more cries for entities like the NSA being called in to "protect" both public and private networks . . . particularly private networks that run public services.   Protect us Big Brother.

Pretty sure that worm is Israeli with a target somewhere in Iran. At least from everything I've read so far.

[sonofdaxjones]

Doesn't make any difference 06 . . . there will now be even more calls to engage the NSA, CIA and the Pentagon in "protecting" America's computer systems.   They'll be aping the crap out of every network there is in this country in rather short order.   All under the guise of, "national security".   

[TBL]

NSA has a new surveillance item.

[pike]

Way to surrender your civil liberties, sugar dick. The whole "I don't care" thing that people say just blows my mind. Welcome to the NWO, folks

[Rage Against the McKee]

Way to surrender your civil liberties, sugar dick. The whole "I don't care" thing that people say just blows my mind. Welcome to the NWO, folks

Yeah, just keep on trusting your government, Sugar Dick. They would never do anything to screw you over.

[pike]

LOL. Trust you're gov everyone. They know what's best for you

[pike]

Let's just install cameras and microphones in everyones home, huh? And embed microchips in everyone so the gov knows where u are. That's where all this is heading, were just going through the desensitizing process now

[hemmy]

Google simply takes photos of what you would see if you drove down the street. Sure, there is some breach of privacy, but they produce a very useful service free of charge. The lack of privacy caused by facebook is nobody's fault but the people who choose to use facebook.

I will agree that the Patriot Act is ridiculous and shouldn't even need to be repealed because it is illegal.

Not sure I would call google street view "very useful" ... Kind of fun to dick around with when you are bored I guess.

[Rage Against the McKee]

Google simply takes photos of what you would see if you drove down the street. Sure, there is some breach of privacy, but they produce a very useful service free of charge. The lack of privacy caused by facebook is nobody's fault but the people who choose to use facebook.

I will agree that the Patriot Act is ridiculous and shouldn't even need to be repealed because it is illegal.

Not sure I would call google street view "very useful" ... Kind of fun to dick around with when you are bored I guess.

The aerial photography is "very useful." I agree that the street view is not.

[Jeffy]

I use street view and aerial view to help plan my field investigations, particularly if I'm not familiar with the site.

[Prince McJunkins]

It's helpful to know what a place looks like if you've never been there.

[The42Yardstick]

Yeah Google Earth is not what we should be worried about. If you're really worried about satellites tracking your every move, well, the government has lots of them at infinitely better quality than what google uses.

[OregonSmock]

THE GOVERNMENT IS OUT TO DESTROY MANKIND AS WE KNOW IT!!!!! PARANOIA!!!!!! FEAR!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TBL]

THE GOVERNMENT IS OUT TO DESTROY MANKIND AS WE KNOW IT!!!!! PARANOIA!!!!!! FEAR!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jeffy]

THE GOVERNMENT IS OUT TO DESTROY MANKIND AS WE KNOW IT!!!!! PARANOIA!!!!!! FEAR!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Don't worry.... He's been more lucid over the past month than at any time in the past.

[The42Yardstick]

THE GOVERNMENT IS OUT TO DESTROY MANKIND AS WE KNOW IT!!!!! PARANOIA!!!!!! FEAR!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So you trust the government not to abuse the monitoring powers they have under the guise of "national security?" Really?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/17/oral_arguments_surveillance/

Oh, and don't give me the argument that this was just stuff that happened under Bush/Cheney. Obama is advancing those exact same arguments in court, and he's even looking to expand the intelligence community's powers over keeping us in line.

Hell, I probably shouldn't even be making this post in the off chance that some of the words on here get picked up by the NSA and I get (permanently) put on some low to medium priority terrorism watch list because of my "suspicious activities." I already regret ever having a facebook because there are very real links between that company and some current and former big-wigs in the CIA. Given Facebook's very murky record of deleting data from users who have left their service, I wouldn't be surprised if the CIA/NSA/FBI could access a former status update of mine where I was frustrated at the government and use it against me if they wanted to. Sure, it'd realistically be a waste of their time and resources so I'm not up at night thinking about this, but it's still a chilling thing to think about.

I really, really doubt that I'm ever going to get black-bagged in the middle or the night or even get a knock on the door from local police or the FBI because I don't trust the government, but it's sad that the average citizen would even have to worry about this being a remote possibility. If the government really does lose its crap and starts prosecuting people en masse (isolated cases have already happened) for having anti-government opinions, there is absolutely no system in place that will let the accused address the charges levied against them since the charges will be given a "top secret national security" stamp that will prevent any evidence whatsoever from being admissible in court. Long story short, if the government really does go off the deep end, we're mumped.

[pike]

Good post, 42

[sonofdaxjones]

The terra-ists are going to strike any second . . . you sheeple must submit to more surveillance and screening.

Problem is the terra-ists are likely being trained by state intelligence factions that have been or were at some point tide to U.S. intelligence.

Remember OBL and Al Queda can trace their roots all the way back to the CIA created Mujahideen.

[mortons toe]

dax's Jimmy Carter sound alike spellings!   

[OregonSmock]

Problem is the terra-ists are likely being trained by state intelligence factions that have been or were at some point tide to U.S. intelligence.

Remember OBL and Al Queda can trace their roots all the way back to the CIA created Mujahideen.

Well no sh*t, Sherlock.  I won't disagree that there are fundamental issues with laws such as the PATRIOT Act, but at the same time, the PATRIOT Act eliminates a lot of the bureaucracy that goes along with an investigation.  I firmly believe that whatever you do in the privacy of your own home is your business (as long as you're not harming others or obligated to be somewhere else), but at the same time, I don't see anything wrong with public surveillance, especially when it comes to identifying potential suspects. 

[Rage Against the McKee]

Problem is the terra-ists are likely being trained by state intelligence factions that have been or were at some point tide to U.S. intelligence.

Remember OBL and Al Queda can trace their roots all the way back to the CIA created Mujahideen.

Well no sh*t, Sherlock.  I won't disagree that there are fundamental issues with laws such as the PATRIOT Act, but at the same time, the PATRIOT Act eliminates a lot of the bureaucracy that goes along with an investigation.  I firmly believe that whatever you do in the privacy of your own home is your business (as long as you're not harming others or obligated to be somewhere else), but at the same time, I don't see anything wrong with public surveillance, especially when it comes to identifying potential suspects. 

Public surveillance would absolutely ruin threads like this one:

http://goEMAW.com/forum/index.php?topic=6804.0

There would ALWAYS be someone watching!

[sonofdaxjones]

You're a good kool-aid drinker Ben . . . good to see that you accept all proclamations by the government and never really stop to think what they really mean.   The creation of databases that include all kinds of regular people . . . the absurd proclamations that the government makes about AQ "recruiting" non traditional terrorists.   Oh gosh, who can question that . . . the gubment says so, so it must be true!!

[OregonSmock]

"Regular people" walk into office buildings every day and murder a dozen of their coworkers.  I'm not saying the government should make preemptive arrests on people, but I don't think it hurts to red flag those who are potential lunatics/terrorists.