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Snowden: 'Governments Can Reduce Our Dignity To That Of Tagged Animals' (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader writes: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden writes a report on The Guardian explaining why leaking information about wrongdoing is a vital act of resistance. "One of the challenges of being a whistleblower is living with the knowledge that people continue to sit, just as you did, at those desks, in that unit, throughout the agency; who see what you saw and comply in silence, without resistance or complaint," Snowden writes. "They learn to live not just with untruths but with unnecessary untruths, dangerous untruths, corrosive untruths. It is a double tragedy: what begins as a survival strategy ends with the compromise of the human being it sought to preserve and the diminishing of the democracy meant to justify the sacrifice." He goes on to explain the importance and significance of leaks, how not all leaks are alike, nor are their makers, and how our connected devices come into play in the post-9/11 period. Snowden writes, "By preying on the modern necessity to stay connected, governments can reduce our dignity to something like that of tagged animals, the primary difference being that we paid for the tags and they are in our pockets."
By creating a planetary network, mankind on Planet now has the ability to share information at light-speed. But by creating a single such network, each faction has brought themselves closer to discovery as well. At the speed of light, we will catch your information, tag it like an animal in the wild, and release it unharmed-if such should serve our purposes.
Datajack Sinder Roze, Alpha Centauri
Nothing has changed since Snowden's revelations. Politicians like Diane Feinstein continue to support mass surveillance and The Patriot Act, even making new statements like the government should "censor the Internet" to deal with terrorist communications and recruitment.
As citizens -- as voters -- we're complicit in our government's actions because we continue to reelect the same people.
If you think that "conservative" means less government, Wake the FUCK up!
Less *corruption* leads to less government.
Neither 'liberal' nor 'conservative' as a "side" (what a bullshit concept you've bought into there) are fighting for less corruption.
Trump is not going to fight for less. He gets his money from more rent-seeking. So, he is gonna screw you and everyone else over if he can.
Bernie? Seems less corrupt.
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Which avenues could Snowden have taken? Keep in mind that Snowden claims that he did raise his concerns with a legal division at the National Security Agency but was rebuffed; this happened years before he leaked to the public. Keep in mind that NSA staffer Thomas Drake tried to use proper channels to report allegations of improper contracting but wound up the target of an investigation.
There is this analysis that shows that Snowden couldn't take any other avenue.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/14/hillary-clinton/clinton-says-nsa-leaker-snowden-failed-use-whistle/
What kind of foreign intelligence efforts could possibly be compromised from the public knowledge that the government indiscriminately spies on the people? That's utterly stupid.
It's actually pretty cut and dry. If you are part of the government, and you are intercepting communications without a warrant signed by a judge with probable cause, you are a traitor to the US Constitution. This is coming from a former Army Officer. I don't give a fuck if you think you are protecting people because if we look at the record of the 3 letter agencies, they suck donkey dick when it comes to actually stopping attacks. Fuck, the FBI can't even make a bust on a terrorist they didn't create, and those they create are mostly mentally ill morons that they practically had to whip to get them to make illegal purchases from them.