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On August 14 2012 05:02 RancidTurnip wrote:Show nested quote +On August 14 2012 04:42 BillClinton wrote: Im not surprised but people need to recognize its importance and seriousness, can we still say we live in a Democracy? Is this the way we wanna go? WE DON'T LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY! The US has NEVER been a democracy! It is and has always been. Your anger doesn't change facts, no matter how hard you try.
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The more power you give to the government the more potential there is for abuse. A system that tries to recreate the "total information awareness" program from the Bush years is going to give a lot of knowledge and therefore power to those who control the system. The question is, do we really need this? Is the threat from terrorism, or even crime, so high that we need to be aware of what everyone is doing, or at least have the potential for it - when the potential for abuse is so high? Would it even be worth it if it solves one problem just to create a much broader, deeper problem of systemic abuse?
I really don't think so. People keep thinking that nothing bad will happen when you give the government more power. But I think if they were being honest they would have to say they didn't know. Unless there are terrorists with portable nuclear bombs targeting American cities (or Canadian in my case), I wouldn't dream of giving anyone this much power (even then, I'm not sure it would be worth it).
The government isn't filled with magic agencies that only do good and staff people who love serving the public interest. It has normal people like every other job, and in many cases they have proven to be quite dumb or somewhat insane. Would you feel comfortable giving your neighbor access to all your e-mails, and allow him to take video footage of you wherever you go?
Cops have been corrupted, and you almost regularly hear a news story about how they abuse their authority and power in various ways, at worst by beating people to death or imprisoning people without any good reason (G20 summit protests in Toronto). Its just dumb to think that a group of people appointed by a committee are going to be immune to these pressures, much less that all of the companies that apparently have access to this data won't use it in ways that you will never hear about on the nightly news.
Come on people, at least have a *little* bit of skepticism about your government.
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On August 13 2012 23:36 Meril wrote: Sorry, but I don't get how people can evaluate terrorism as huge issue. I would say its statistically irrelevant. Every 3 seconds someone dies cause of hunger. So many people die cause of cancer, traffic accidents... If every year there would be an 11. september, it would still be a very minor issue. If you want to save peoples lifes, help people in countries to produce food, invest in science to defeat illness. If you want to lower criminal rate then fight against social injustice. A normal person having everything they need to live a carefree life won't kill someone just for no reason. And if someone is crazy and decides he uses his kitchen knife to kill random people there is nothing you could ever do about that. Now the bad thing about surveillance is that power in the hands of a few people has a very high chance to be abused. Also I got the impression that our society promotes immoral persons to high ranked jobs. I know 3 companies at marketing level and in each of them lying was the common case. If I meet a person at lets say a club and he says something I normally expect them to tell the truth. If you talk with a manager you should question every sentence he says. Lying just to get an advantage is just common practice.
Exactly how I feel, I mean it's more dangerous driving to work everyday than any terrorist and people say "but terrorists are random, you could be at the mall and boom" and I go "that's all great, but any day on the highway which is a single lane for a few miles where I live, someone could spill coffee on there lap and boom head one collision and I'm dead."
It's just exhausting hearing all of these cowards cry about terrorism and use it as an excuse to lose freedom for security... If you ask me the terrorists have long won because they've not only multiplied by immense numbers since the invasion of the middle east, but they've added fear and restricted peoples rights because of it.
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On August 14 2012 05:24 Djzapz wrote:Show nested quote +On August 14 2012 05:02 RancidTurnip wrote:On August 14 2012 04:42 BillClinton wrote: Im not surprised but people need to recognize its importance and seriousness, can we still say we live in a Democracy? Is this the way we wanna go? WE DON'T LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY! The US has NEVER been a democracy! It is and has always been. Your anger doesn't change facts, no matter how hard you try.
Isn't the US a Republic?
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On August 14 2012 05:34 Zodiac107 wrote:Show nested quote +On August 14 2012 05:24 Djzapz wrote:On August 14 2012 05:02 RancidTurnip wrote:On August 14 2012 04:42 BillClinton wrote: Im not surprised but people need to recognize its importance and seriousness, can we still say we live in a Democracy? Is this the way we wanna go? WE DON'T LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY! The US has NEVER been a democracy! It is and has always been. Your anger doesn't change facts, no matter how hard you try. Isn't the US a Republic? Sure, they're not mutually exclusive :O
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United States7483 Posts
On August 14 2012 05:36 Djzapz wrote:Show nested quote +On August 14 2012 05:34 Zodiac107 wrote:On August 14 2012 05:24 Djzapz wrote:On August 14 2012 05:02 RancidTurnip wrote:On August 14 2012 04:42 BillClinton wrote: Im not surprised but people need to recognize its importance and seriousness, can we still say we live in a Democracy? Is this the way we wanna go? WE DON'T LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY! The US has NEVER been a democracy! It is and has always been. Your anger doesn't change facts, no matter how hard you try. Isn't the US a Republic? Sure, they're not mutually exclusive :O
To clarify, a Republic is a representative democracy: it most certainly qualifies as a form of democracy.
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On August 14 2012 05:37 Whitewing wrote:Show nested quote +On August 14 2012 05:36 Djzapz wrote:On August 14 2012 05:34 Zodiac107 wrote:On August 14 2012 05:24 Djzapz wrote:On August 14 2012 05:02 RancidTurnip wrote:On August 14 2012 04:42 BillClinton wrote: Im not surprised but people need to recognize its importance and seriousness, can we still say we live in a Democracy? Is this the way we wanna go? WE DON'T LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY! The US has NEVER been a democracy! It is and has always been. Your anger doesn't change facts, no matter how hard you try. Isn't the US a Republic? Sure, they're not mutually exclusive :O To clarify, a Republic is a representative democracy: it most certainly qualifies as a form of democracy.
Alright, thanks for clarifying.
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On August 14 2012 04:52 zalz wrote:Yes, and that was the wrong thing to do. Then, when America went into the right direction, Al-Qaeda claimed it as one of the most important motivations for their existence. Backing genocide is but one thing that the west will have to do in order to 'please' Islamic terrorists. The question is, are the appeasers ready to surrender that much? Saying that America's foreign policy is to blame is a cop-out when you look at what these terrorists demand. Leaving other countries alone is going to mean watching genocides play out. This high and mighty attitude that America needs to "mind its own business," means standing by and watching evil play out. When even something like having diplomatic relations with a nation is considered an invasion of the middle-east, you need to be intellectually honest and admit that the price to pay is a great deal higher than America just "minding its own business." This is where you run into the problem of terrorism being ill-defined, allowing people to claim literally anything as being a terrorist act. It kind of like how some people believe that Americans are literally slaves, because they have to work to earn their money. Is that a correct usage of the word slave? Not exactly, but the word is so broad that it is almost meaningless. The same goes for America and terrorism. By its own definition, America does not engage in terrorism. By the definition of a tinfoil person, they support all the terrorism in the world. Getting into that is one giant semantic clusterfuck. I do not nearly hate myself enough to subject myself to the tortureous process that is a debate about semantics.
Appreciate the response. I see no further reason to debate because, as you have said, our differences largely rest in semantics. So long as we can agree that America has pursued and supported highly immoral and destructive activities in the past, and should refrain from doing so in the future. I also think that the decision to stop needs to be made regardless of who is upset by it, be it neo cons or islamic terrorists. I think that with a more humane foreign policy, and less US support being thrown to terrorists (such as the jihadists used against ussr) terrorism will be heavily reduced. (you can choose to call them something other than terrorists if that is how your definitions work)
I do not know if terrorism or Mass murder will ever cease to be a problem though, particularly Given the increasing destructive capability of our technology. I am in favor of increased surveillance not merely to thwart terrorists, but other violent crimes as well. My main point is that i believe that law enforcement is much more capable of running surveillance responsibly when compared with the CIA, intelligence contractors and corporations. Since i see nothing in your stance to refute this, I see no reason to argue.
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just fyi; People referred to organized resistance against the nazis during ww2 as "act of terrorism", how do people not realise that this will just as much be used against you.
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The most ironic part is that of all things its the USA that may develop the purest form of communism which has ever existed.
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One persons terrorist is another persons freedom fighter.
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On August 14 2012 05:47 Zodiac107 wrote: One persons terrorist is another persons freedom fighter.
Only if you have a Newspeak understanding of the word freedom.
One small difference for example:
Dutch freedom fighters that fought the Germans didn't go out and blow themselves up in the middle of a market square in order to kill as many Dutch people as possible so they could establish a religo-fascist regime.
Just a small point where a Dutch freedom fighter and a Qutbist-terrorist are different.
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This looks like they are attempting to aggregate and parse data from surveyed public locations. Am I incorrect in that interpretation? If not, this is not some gross violation of your personal freedoms. If, however, this encroaches upon how you conduct yourself in your private life, the outrage is justified. Before I jump to the point of outrage, though, I want that bit of clarification.
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On August 14 2012 05:43 Zahir wrote:Show nested quote +On August 14 2012 04:52 zalz wrote:On August 14 2012 04:08 Zahir wrote:http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB174/index.htmPerhaps you could give your thoughts on a few of these documents that show a consistent US policy (five administrations) of supporting the invasion of east Timor by indonesia, which only ended during the Clinton presidency. Yes, and that was the wrong thing to do. Then, when America went into the right direction, Al-Qaeda claimed it as one of the most important motivations for their existence. Backing genocide is but one thing that the west will have to do in order to 'please' Islamic terrorists. The question is, are the appeasers ready to surrender that much? Saying that America's foreign policy is to blame is a cop-out when you look at what these terrorists demand. Leaving other countries alone is going to mean watching genocides play out. This high and mighty attitude that America needs to "mind its own business," means standing by and watching evil play out. When even something like having diplomatic relations with a nation is considered an invasion of the middle-east, you need to be intellectually honest and admit that the price to pay is a great deal higher than America just "minding its own business." This is where you run into the problem of terrorism being ill-defined, allowing people to claim literally anything as being a terrorist act. It kind of like how some people believe that Americans are literally slaves, because they have to work to earn their money. Is that a correct usage of the word slave? Not exactly, but the word is so broad that it is almost meaningless. The same goes for America and terrorism. By its own definition, America does not engage in terrorism. By the definition of a tinfoil person, they support all the terrorism in the world. Getting into that is one giant semantic clusterfuck. I do not nearly hate myself enough to subject myself to the tortureous process that is a debate about semantics. Appreciate the response. I see no further reason to debate because, as you have said, our differences largely rest in semantics. So long as we can agree that America has pursued and supported highly immoral and destructive activities in the past, and should refrain from doing so in the future. I also think that the decision to stop needs to be made regardless of who is upset by it, be it neo cons or islamic terrorists. I think that with a more humane foreign policy, and less US support being thrown to terrorists (such as the jihadists used against ussr) terrorism will be heavily reduced. (you can choose to call them something other than terrorists if that is how your definitions work) I do not know if terrorism or Mass murder will ever cease to be a problem though, particularly Given the increasing destructive capability of our technology. I am in favor of increased surveillance not merely to thwart terrorists, but other violent crimes as well. My main point is that i believe that law enforcement is much more capable of running surveillance responsibly when compared with the CIA, intelligence contractors and corporations. Since i see nothing in your stance to refute this, I see no reason to argue.
I agree that realpolitik has largely been a disaster and should never be repeated. Thankfully, it isn't as prevalent as it used to be.
We will always have terrorism and mass murders, but by and large, humanity is becoming less violent by the year.
I think this new technology of allowing computer programs to analyze data will actually increase privacy, since it removes the need for a human observer.
The only problem can arise if we don't establish proper laws. For example, if being gay was a crime and the machine could find that, that would be a problem.
But those are hypothetical problems. If the US was a fascist state, having any police force would be a disaster, but we acknowledge that the government is good enough to handle having things like an army and a police force to maintain order.
The laws are the crucial point. If we make sure that the laws are proper, the tools hardly matter.
People are making up all kinds of conspiracy stories about the government blackmailing people, or selling the data to companies. None of that is happening, or would happen, and every such argument could also be made against having a police force.
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On August 14 2012 06:05 zalz wrote:Show nested quote +On August 14 2012 05:47 Zodiac107 wrote: One persons terrorist is another persons freedom fighter. Only if you have a Newspeak understanding of the word freedom. One small difference for example: Dutch freedom fighters that fought the Germans didn't go out and blow themselves up in the middle of a market square in order to kill as many Dutch people as possible so they could establish a religo-fascist regime. Just a small point where a Dutch freedom fighter and a Qutbist-terrorist are different.
This is of course a matter of perspective. The means to and end differ, true. And the amount you want to bet in the fight differ likewise.
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This was clear in early 2000, when the Programs Echelon and some other i cant remmber were commented among hacker groups (we are not talking about hackers that make hacks for sc2, but the ones that can get into virtually any system). Some of the most popular opinions now among those groups (some of them from annonymous, some from other sources), are for example that companies that stated they had a security breach and some of their data got stolen actually sell that information to various companies.
That would be a reason to why those security breaches never end up in some people going to jail and the information recovered. Kinda like the massive viruses that exist only so you buy an antivirus program.
Another interesting story floating around there is that 9/11 was actually done by the CIA to get more funding.
Most of this stuff seems like paranoic stories, but the more you think about it, the more "it makes sence" if you think that rich people/people who control the world dont give a shit about general population (wich seems to be the general reality, just have a look at politicians...).
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On August 11 2012 11:01 Whitewing wrote:Show nested quote +On August 11 2012 10:29 Brett wrote:On August 11 2012 09:45 Whitewing wrote:On August 11 2012 09:42 emythrel wrote:On August 11 2012 09:33 AgentChaos wrote: lol i bet uk doesnt have this shit (we are too poor) even if we did, what does it matter? Is everyone who is worried about "being spied on" so self deluded to think that their government or anyone that doesn't know them directly could give a flying fuck what they do? I certainly am not. My government couldn't care less what I'm doing unless I am doing one of the following: 1) Breaking laws 2) Not paying taxes Monitor me all you want, if I get caught doing something I shouldn't have been doing in the first place then I have no one but myself to blame. Its the same old story, every generation since time began has felt oppressed by their government and every previous generation tells them how it was better in the old days, just like when older people say "kids respected their elders in my day" its all bullshit... it was exactly the same, just with worse technology. Please get it through your heads, no one cares what you do unless you are doing something wrong. If cameras and datamining help deter, prevent or catch people breaking laws then they are doing their job and those who stay within the law have nothing to fear. The old "slippery slope" argument is beyond stupid, the government can't arrest you for staying within the law and if they did, YOU HAVE THE VIDEO EVIDENCE TO PROVE YOURSELF INNOCENT since ofc they have everything on CCTV and backed up on fortified HDDs...... And when the people in charge decide to abuse the power an authority you let them have without protest, what then? People should have a right to privacy. You're in public... Some dolt on the street can follow you and record your every move if they want. And they don't need this system to do it. I think this is paranoia at its finest. Again, if you'd read my previous posts, it's not about being recorded, it's about who is doing the recording, and on what kind of scale, for what purpose. The issue is about private corporations recording massive amounts of people for some purpose. Also, for the record, if some dolt followed me around and recorded everything I did, he could easily get arrested for that and I could get a restraining order. To be fair, I'm honestly not too concerned about it as it is now, but just be aware things could go downhill pretty easily if people just roll over for more and more power to the corporations and the government. For the record, no you couldn't. Think celebs and paparazzi; of course I don't mean that someone could follow you literally everywhere (including inside certain places for example), but when you're out in public spaces, there's really nothing to stop them. Pretty much exactly the same as this system. If you step into the public sphere, you can expect to be observed.
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"People are making up all kinds of conspiracy stories about the government blackmailing people, or selling the data to companies. None of that is happening, or would happen, and every such argument could also be made against having a police force."
They are selling the info to companies... Let me be specific. The government (and other governments worldwide) are giving not only funding to abraxas, but also access to much of their security cameras, police reports, etc. This is part of the trapwire program which is supposed to consolidate, cross index and analyze all the data to detect threats. So far so good I guess, except for the worrying fact that a private company with no transparency and less accountability/standards than the government is being given all this data and equipment, without public knowing this.
Where it gets seriously effed up for me is the fact that abraxas is taking this info, from police reports and interviews, government cameras etc., analyzing it for non security purposes (such as tracking activists) and selling all this to companies like Dow, coca cola. A system purportedly anti terrorist, is instead being used as a tool for companies to gather intel on citizens of many countries. And this is all being done without public knowledge, using public "security" equipment and funds, even interviews and reports from common citizens who had no idea they were acting as corporate informants ratting out their fellow citizens. thinking that they were in fact helping to keep their neighbors safe.
If the documents are authentic ... And I think they are, given that wikileaks has been honest so far... Then this is fact, not speculation.
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On August 14 2012 06:17 iloveav wrote: This was clear in early 2000, when the Programs Echelon and some other i cant remmber were commented among hacker groups (we are not talking about hackers that make hacks for sc2, but the ones that can get into virtually any system). Some of the most popular opinions now among those groups (some of them from annonymous, some from other sources), are for example that companies that stated they had a security breach and some of their data got stolen actually sell that information to various companies.
That would be a reason to why those security breaches never end up in some people going to jail and the information recovered. Kinda like the massive viruses that exist only so you buy an antivirus program.
Another interesting story floating around there is that 9/11 was actually done by the CIA to get more funding.
Most of this stuff seems like paranoic stories, but the more you think about it, the more "it makes sence" if you think that rich people/people who control the world dont give a shit about general population (wich seems to be the general reality, just have a look at politicians...).
dude come on.
it doesn't make sense.
"POLITICIANS" are not some mystical class towering above "THE MAN" with some evil agenda to keep us down. The vast majority are decent successful people aattempting to.reconcile the views of rradically different constituents based on biased partial informatio n and lobbying power. this sad generalization is nothing better than saying all cops are evil because sheriff Bob beat up a black guy, or all Germans are Nazis (sup Godwin)
moreover, people tend to conflate government abilities with capability. damn thing can't bloody streets in an efficient time effective manner and now we think they could do THIS? and actually make it work?
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