David:
Since 9/11, the Federal government has exploded in its ability to track, monitor, and collect data on average Americans. They have access to our emails, phone calls, finances, and now all of our health data. (They may be reading this blog as I'm typing.)
Last summer, I re-read 1984, and found a surprising number of similarities between the world of Winston Smith, the book's protagonist, and the America we are living in now. Is safety such an absolute that we should allow our own government to spy on us? Is Edward Snowden a hero for exposing the government's over reach, or a modern Benedict Arnold?
Doug:
If Orwell were to write "Nineteen Eighty-Four" today, I think he would have made Big Business the Big Brother, rather than the government. It is truly stunning what people willingly allow Facebook and Google (for examples) to have access to. I am concerned about the government's access to such data, but I am more concerned with corporate access.
Snowden's revelations only solidified what many of us suspected. I think he was brave, and history will look back on his actions favorably. Sometimes civil disobedience is the only way out. You are right that "safety" is how the government sells this to us. Really, though, it is fear. Are people really so afraid that they are willing to trade their personal information for safety? Actually, I don't think it makes us any more safe.
Take airline safety. I think that they focus on exactly the wrong things. Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you going? None of that matters. They should just search you thoroughly, and that's it. They don't need to know who you are. If I owned an airline, I would call it "Naked Airlines" and you wouldn't even need ID. No luggage allowed, either. Just a clean towel to sit on. You're naked. Get it?
David:
Remind me not to fly with you, weirdo. And what if the naked guy next to you has a bomb up his….
Doug:
Thoroughly checked. Thoroughly.
David:
I trust corporations more than I do government. At least they have the possibility of someone watching what they're up to. Right now, the bureaucracy of government is so big, that the President finds out about government agency misdeeds (that are under the supervision of the executive branch) by watching the evening news. David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Obama admitted "the government is so vast" that no one can really know what anyone is doing.
http://thehill.com/video/administration/299829-axelrod-government-too-big-for-obama-to-have-known-about-irs-targeting
Doug:
Of course it is too big for any one person to know all the details. That's what hierarchies are for.
I do not trust corporations more than the government. Corporations will lie to you to get you to buy something. That's the definition of advertising. If people in the government are found lying, well, they would lose their job.
David:
No one in government loses their job, at any level. The first article, from USA Today (hardly a right-wing paper) notes you are more likely to die, than to be fired from a government job.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-07-18-fderal-job-security_n.htm
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/fedbiz_daily/2015/03/heres-why-federal-employees-rarely-get-fired.html
The rules provide no means to get rid of worthless employees, and no reward for excellence. This is just the opposite of the private sector. Capitalism is a much better model to get the best from your employees.
Referring back to 1984, it seems the government is coercing certain social media, along with other internet giants like Amazon and Google to bring about Big Brother.
Facebook actually admitted to manipulating the emotions of site users by altering and manipulating the posts people were able to see on their own feeds! Now that is scary! If the federal government took over (under the banner of safety, of course) an internet force like that….Yikes!
Doug:
The government couldn't handle that kind of power.
David:
And yet, it has that kind of power.
If I were the President, I would have pardoned Snowden immediately, to get him back before any serious national security issues were leaked. Instead, he spent months in Russia. (I'm sure they didn't learn anything.) I agree that history should view him favorably. After all, we're blogging about this topic because of his efforts.
Doug:
I'm going to have to agree with you on that one. Weird!
Since 9/11, the Federal government has exploded in its ability to track, monitor, and collect data on average Americans. They have access to our emails, phone calls, finances, and now all of our health data. (They may be reading this blog as I'm typing.)
Last summer, I re-read 1984, and found a surprising number of similarities between the world of Winston Smith, the book's protagonist, and the America we are living in now. Is safety such an absolute that we should allow our own government to spy on us? Is Edward Snowden a hero for exposing the government's over reach, or a modern Benedict Arnold?
Doug:
If Orwell were to write "Nineteen Eighty-Four" today, I think he would have made Big Business the Big Brother, rather than the government. It is truly stunning what people willingly allow Facebook and Google (for examples) to have access to. I am concerned about the government's access to such data, but I am more concerned with corporate access.
Snowden's revelations only solidified what many of us suspected. I think he was brave, and history will look back on his actions favorably. Sometimes civil disobedience is the only way out. You are right that "safety" is how the government sells this to us. Really, though, it is fear. Are people really so afraid that they are willing to trade their personal information for safety? Actually, I don't think it makes us any more safe.
Take airline safety. I think that they focus on exactly the wrong things. Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you going? None of that matters. They should just search you thoroughly, and that's it. They don't need to know who you are. If I owned an airline, I would call it "Naked Airlines" and you wouldn't even need ID. No luggage allowed, either. Just a clean towel to sit on. You're naked. Get it?
David:
Remind me not to fly with you, weirdo. And what if the naked guy next to you has a bomb up his….
Doug:
Thoroughly checked. Thoroughly.
David:
I trust corporations more than I do government. At least they have the possibility of someone watching what they're up to. Right now, the bureaucracy of government is so big, that the President finds out about government agency misdeeds (that are under the supervision of the executive branch) by watching the evening news. David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Obama admitted "the government is so vast" that no one can really know what anyone is doing.
http://thehill.com/video/administration/299829-axelrod-government-too-big-for-obama-to-have-known-about-irs-targeting
Doug:
Of course it is too big for any one person to know all the details. That's what hierarchies are for.
I do not trust corporations more than the government. Corporations will lie to you to get you to buy something. That's the definition of advertising. If people in the government are found lying, well, they would lose their job.
David:
No one in government loses their job, at any level. The first article, from USA Today (hardly a right-wing paper) notes you are more likely to die, than to be fired from a government job.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-07-18-fderal-job-security_n.htm
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/fedbiz_daily/2015/03/heres-why-federal-employees-rarely-get-fired.html
The rules provide no means to get rid of worthless employees, and no reward for excellence. This is just the opposite of the private sector. Capitalism is a much better model to get the best from your employees.
Referring back to 1984, it seems the government is coercing certain social media, along with other internet giants like Amazon and Google to bring about Big Brother.
Facebook actually admitted to manipulating the emotions of site users by altering and manipulating the posts people were able to see on their own feeds! Now that is scary! If the federal government took over (under the banner of safety, of course) an internet force like that….Yikes!
Doug:
The government couldn't handle that kind of power.
David:
And yet, it has that kind of power.
If I were the President, I would have pardoned Snowden immediately, to get him back before any serious national security issues were leaked. Instead, he spent months in Russia. (I'm sure they didn't learn anything.) I agree that history should view him favorably. After all, we're blogging about this topic because of his efforts.
Doug:
I'm going to have to agree with you on that one. Weird!
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