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CNN Talks WIth ACLU Tech Maven Barry Steinhardt

Posted by timothy on from the watch-that-mandatory-stuff-now dept.

muon1183 writes " CNN interviews Barry Steinhardt, the ACLU's cyberchief and former staff laywer for the EFF. Steinhardt speaks on his concerns about current and upcoming legislation and its impacts on your civil liberties. It's good that this is finally making the mainstream media."

4 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. Serious Question by Boss,+Pointy+Haired · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm not trolling.

    I'm interested as to why someone who has "nothing to hide" should be worried about mass surveillance by their government?

    It certainly doesn't bother me.

    What the arguments?
    Why should I be worried?

    I'm quite willing to change my mind!

    1. Re:Serious Question by AndyS · · Score: 5, Interesting

      We had a really unpleasant rail disaster in the UK a while ago. One of the survivors, who was horrifically burned, made a point of harassing the government over safety measures and so on.

      Fast forward a little way and a leaked memo appeared, asking party machinery (just the Labour party here) to get details on her, and see if she was working with the opposition in order to discredit her.

      This is the nub of it, a lot of people have stuff to hide. It might not even be anythign that is a crime, but purely something that you are ashamed of, or might affect how other people see you (which, in this day and age, can be pretty much anything). It basically is a useful tool to settle personal scores, and to stop people from exercising their rights to loudly question their political masters.

      Now, I'm not saying this WILL occur, but it certainly can. They can neuter your ability to effectively say anything about the government.

      And that's not even going all the way.

  2. Good but.... by objwiz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It is good to see these concerns elevated to the general public but I always keep this little thought in mind when I read about technology (especially internet related) the mainstream media.

    I get the impression that the mainstream media is scared of the internet. I wonder if part of it due to changes in how we get our information. In the old days, we turned the TV to 1 of 3 or 4 channels and that was about it. Today, we can use search engines and countless news sites instead. So, the mainstream media feels threatened by the internet as it reduces their influence as well as their revenues.

    I got the impression by how some journalist report their discoveries in a local channels expose on the internet. I remember one article where this journalist was inquiring about cookies websites leave behind and the information others can potentially garner from them. Her reaction was of shock! Her response was that a hapless computer user was totally helpless (no mention of turning off cookies for example) unless the government steps in and starts regulating cookies. As a result of this news article, I got the impression that the journalist was more afraid of the internet than anything else.

  3. Why You Should Use Encryption by MichaelCrawford · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This seems like a good opportunity to post a link to my article Why You Should Use Encryption.

    Yes, I mean you. And not just you computer geeks. Your mom should be using encryption too.

    Another page of interest is Is This the America I Love?

    Thank you for your attention.

    --
    Request your free CD of my piano music.