Many of the Obama supporters on this site have been making the case that there is nothing new about the discovery of the NSA’s collection of massive amounts of personal information. And they say there is nothing threatening about the process of data mining.
Last night in a diary I wrote this:
Anyone that has been exposed to similar restrictions under an oppressive regime -- even for a short period of time – knows it is the most demeaning, dehumanizing thing that can happen to a nation’s populace. Once fully aware that his or her actions are being monitored, a person will not feel secure.
If you have nothing to hide, then there’s no reason to worry, or at least that’s what we’re being told. But if you truly believe that, then I recommend you read this diary written by Hosnon at Democratic Underground:
I live in a country generally assumed to be a dictatorship. One of the Arab spring countries. I have lived through curfews and have seen the outcomes of the sort of surveillance now being revealed in the US. People here talking about curfews aren't realizing what that actually FEELS like. It isn't about having to go inside, and the practicality of that. It's about creating the feeling that everyone, everything is watching. A few points:
1) the purpose of this surveillance from the governments point of view is to control enemies of the state. Not terrorists. People who are coalescing around ideas that would destabilize the status quo. These could be religious ideas. These could be groups like anon who are too good with tech for the governments liking. It makes it very easy to know who these people are. It also makes it very simple to control these people.
Hosnon http://www.democraticunderground.com/...
Those of us who lived through the cold war remember the surveillance techniques employed by the Stasi, and we remember how dehumanizing it was for the people of East Germany. And as a person who has visited countries that don’t have the same protections that we enjoy, I can testify that the NSA’s use of all-encompassing data mining is more terrifying than you can imagine. Obama and Bush have now gathered enough information on every American citizen to make us think twice before we post any type of information that might be used against us. And just because we haven’t discovered any cases of abuse using data mining doesn’t mean it won’t eventually fall into the hands of a future president who would relish the thought of using it against his/her enemies. Once leaders have power they never relinquish it willingly, and they will always test the limits of there powers.
Just imagine the information that has been collected falling into the hands of a person like Karl Rove or Dick Cheney or Pat Buchannen or Rush Limbaugh or any other person that you can think of that has no respect for the protections provided by the Constitution. The next Republican/Tea Party candidate could use information that you once had an abortion, or that you served time for a minor infraction, or that you have a disability that you’ve worked hard to overcome, and that list could go on forever.
Think about it. Would you feel safe if you truly believed that someone was watching what you read, what you write, what you say in jest…