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Washington DC's Public Library Will Teach People How To Avoid the NSA

Posted by samzenpus on from the keep-your-head-down dept.

Jason Koebler writes Later this month, the Washington DC Public Library will teach residents how to use Tor as part of a 10 day series designed to shed light on government surveillance, transparency, and personal privacy. The series is called "Orwellian America," and it's quite subversive, considering that it's being held by a publicly funded entity mere minutes from a Congress and administration that allowed the NSA's surveillance programs to spin wildly out of control.

13 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. How depressing... by Bearhouse · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That learning how to protect your privacy from quasi-legal Govt. data harvesting could now be considered "subversive"

    1. Re:How depressing... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's depressing that it's necessary, but ...

      sub-ver-sive
      adjective
      adjective: subversive

              1.
              seeking or intended to subvert an established system or institution.
              "subversive literature"
              synonyms: disruptive, troublemaking, inflammatory, insurrectionary; More
              seditious, revolutionary, rebellious, rebel, renegade, dissident
              "subversive activities"

      noun
      noun: subversive; plural noun: subversives

              1.
              a subversive person.
              synonyms: troublemaker, dissident, agitator, revolutionary, renegade, rebel
              "a dangerous subversive"

      Getting around a surveillance state which has declared itself to be legal and legitimate ... well, guess what, demanding your rights now is subversive.

      When you have to hide from your own government because they have decided you have no actual right to privacy, your government is unjust.

      The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,[a] against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized

      That is now interpreted as "unless we say otherwise, and if you disagree you must side with the terrorists".

      The supposedly "free" governments around the world now pretty much require that we be subversive, because they no longer recognize or give a damn about our rights. So it's pretty much the only thing left.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:How depressing... by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I love how we use this phrase as if to imply that the government has somehow changed the rules on it's own without the consent or will of the people.

      Until such time as they change the Constitution, it is still the highest law of the land. Deciding the 4th amendment (or any other part of it) is optional is not consistent with that.

      Ergo, it is, by definition, illegal.

      Yes, a lot of scared people have accepted this. That doesn't make it legal. It's expedient, sure. But legal? I don't buy that.

      And, since they've given themselves permission to do this in the rest of the world, without the consent of the people they do it to ... I conclude that America has made themselves the enemy of the liberty of everyone on the planet.

      In which case what your passive citizenry accept is irrelevant. Because the rest of the world isn't subject to US law, no matter how much you guys believe in manifest destiny.

      So, fight or don't fight your your rights, I don't care. But keep your fucking hands off mine. The rest of us haven't consented to this horseshit by the NSA.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  2. tag the participants for surveilance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey, Bob, attend this class, make a list of attendees. Oh man, this is too easy!

    1. Re:tag the participants for surveilance by Alain+Williams · · Score: 3, Funny

      All the more reason for these lectures to be delivered all over the country. They can't watch all of us ... Oh, wait :-(

  3. And by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Welcome to the TOR class. To register, we need your name, DOB, address, Social Security number, and a short essay on why you fear the government...

  4. Coming soon... by langelgjm · · Score: 4, Informative

    A Congressional rider attached to an unrelated bill outlawing such activities within the District. Kind of how like Maryland's Andy Harris inserted language to block DC's marijuana legalization.

    --
    "Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
  5. Re:is "superversive" a word? by jd2112 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wikipedia thinks that "Subversion refers to an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, and hierarchy. ".

    I thought Subversion was a Revision Control System akin to Git and CVS.

    --
    Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
  6. First rule about TOR club is... by Macfox · · Score: 3, Funny

    You don't talk about TOR club.

    --
    Area51 - We are watching...
  7. Thank your local librarian ... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A lot of people don't realize librarians have always been on the forefront of protecting out rights.

    From fighting for censorship, to advocating for free speech, to stuff like this ... librarians tend to be people with a real understanding of our liberties, and why it's important to have them.

    So, if you enjoy the right to read a book which someone found offensive, of the ability to access stuff without having to pay the publisher, or free and anonymous access to the interwebs ... hug your local librarian.

    They or someone like them has probably done as much to maintain your freedoms as anybody else in the last few decades.

    Showing the public how to undermine the surveillance crap ... well, that deserves applause in my book.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  8. Librarians for Liberty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Librarians have been fighting the good fight in America at least as far back as the 1940s when they stood up to red scare shenanigans. They were also at the forefront of fighting the PATRIOT act, both in lobbying and in action when they redesigned their lending software to delete all information once a book was returned. They are also at the center of the hackerspace movement.

  9. I hope it's better than the last one by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    Their last seminar on How Not to be Seen wasn't very popular with some of the attendees.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  10. What libraries are for by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Libraries are by design one of the safeguards against tyranny.

    And we're only safe once the tools to subvert domestic NSA spying are so ubiquitous that a workshop like this one are no longer newsworthy. But I'm sure some future John McCain/Lyndsey Graham congressional asshat will decry "public funds being used to support terrorism" and the program will be cancelled.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.