Dec 26 2013

Edward Snowden’s Christmas Message

(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Hi, and Merry Christmas. I’m honored to have the chance to speak with you and your family this year.

Recently, we learned that our governments, working in concert, have created a system of worldwide mass surveillance, watching everything we do.

Great Britain’s George Orwell warned us of the danger of this kind of information. The types of collection in the book — microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us — are nothing compared to what we have available today. We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go.

Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person. A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They’ll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves — an unrecorded, unanalyzed thought. And that’s a problem, because privacy matters. Privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be.

The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it. Together, we can find a better balance. End mass surveillance. And remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel, asking is always cheaper than spying.

For everyone out there listening, thank you, and Merry Christmas.

arlethamaselli0

4 comments

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  2. regarding the opinions of liberals and conservatives on current NSA surveillance:

    http://www.volokh.com/2013/12/…

    Liberals (well, at least what the Washington Post identified as “liberals”):

    26% very concerned

    26% somewhat concerned

    26% not too concerned

    21% not at all concerned

    Conservatives:

    48% very concerned

    29% somewhat concerned

    12% not too concerned

    9% not at all concerned

    The article goes on to say:

    It’s an interesting reversal from 2006, when the President was a Republican instead of a Democrat. Back then, a Pew poll found 75% of Republicans approved of NSA surveillance but only 37% of Democrats approved.

    Apparently, if “your” administration is doing it, it’s okay, but if the “other” administration is doing it, maybe not so much.

    OTOH, I question whether all the so-called “liberals” in the poll were all really liberal, as opposed to Democratic partisans.  I am a real liberal, leftie, etc., and have always been.  If it was wrong under a Republican administration, it is still wrong under a Democratic one.

    {{Sigh}}

    And I must say that the reversal among the conservatives/Republicans is even more striking.  They cannot seem to stand any repressive policies of a Democratic administration, even though they were cheering them under the Republicans.

    People are idiots.  What can I say?      🙁

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