In the USA it will probably be a "soft tyranny" of the "we know what's best for you, or else" type, not the "strong man with an iron fist" dictatorships we've seen in the past.
In ideal principle I think you are correct. However, recent evidence would indicate that somewhat more than a few individual actors are considerably less than 100% restrained.
There are alternatives to both the status quo and nihilism. Do not let rhetorical absolutism be the enemy of practical observation and action.
Pols have been cowed by their own skeletal closet contents since the days of Allen Dulles and J. Edgar Hoover.
That is why nothing short of a complete and thorough housecleaning (don't hold your breath), or a complete systemic collapse of the Establishment's economic oligarchy (in my dreams), will avail.
They don't know who you are. They can put together a pretty good picture, but they don't have a name, address, phone number, or photo of you.
That is one hell of a naive or uninformed perspective. There are these amazing things called relational databases full of lovely tables overflowing with easily-queried nuggets of yummy identifiable customer goodness.
Do you for one moment think your utility company, ISP, your social media site, health insurer, and our wonderful government don't share easily cross-referenced data? Hell, Lexisnexis knows more about you than your mom.
What color is the sky in "they"s world, or yours for that matter?
One the Army gets them, the nazis over at the DEA will want them too, and in no time at all Andy Taylor and Barney Fife will get a Homeland Security law enforcement grant so they can add this to their local sheriff's arsenal of M-16's, M-60's, and infantry fighting vehicles...so they can morph into Judge Dredd and fight the swarms of evil terrorists we see on every street corner.
Things like this only serve to foster and spread an illusion of security and privacy. It may make life a little harder for the commercial maggots, but the government worms? You're as good as owned already.
If it has not already been compromised, by technology or force of law, it soon will be. Bet on it.
If no compelling medical issue requires sequencing in a newborn, it is invasive and coercive to conduct it.
Any possible beneficial result is overshadowed by the inevitable abuse and misuse of the results. All I can see is creating a brand for each new child that will influence and determine decisions that may in fact have no significant scientific bearing. Predisposition is not certainty, and decisions based on uncertainty are, well, stupid.
I'll be damned if I want my grandchildren automatically genome-branded by the government to the detriment of their education, employment, and insurability.
Bruce nailed it. We've sat on our collective asses and watched the politicians, spooks, and marketing clowns turn an engineering marvel into a sad parody of it's former intended self. I don't think anyone nowadays can question the need for some serious re-engineering. We can solve the technical problems and propose new standards and protocols.The real question is how do we implement the fix.
Will the standards committees support it? Will the Powers that Be allow it? Like Bill the Bard wrote, "Aye, there's the rub."
The root problem, appalling pun gleefully intended, is political, not technical.
Between unlimited resources and questionable legal tactics, the NSA and other sigint agencies can and will always compel or bribe that which they cannot hack. Software crowbars, legal hammers, and moneybags of grease are everything they need. For every new solution, they will create a new problem.
The only guaranteed solutions are either the (don't hold your breath) complete abolition these government entities, with no successor remakes, or the courts and Congress must hamstring them with crystal-clear transparency (still possible, but politically unlikely).
To believe otherwise underestimates the present unfettered powers, technical, legal, and financial, of the government.
Nonsense. It is foolish to conflate proficiency with a tool, albeit a common one, with native scientific understanding of said tool.
Does your average expert sniper necessarily know the metallurgical properties of gun barrels or the physics of optics? Probably not, and doesn't care. Ballistics is about as deep as it gets, and generally only on the practical level.
Familiarity and proficiency with features and optimum usage are indicators of interest and affinity, not technical understanding. While not exclusive, they are not exactly co-dependent either.
I only use this example because many years ago I helped train snipers and got to know quite a few.
I have no study to justify my theory, but I wouldn't be at all shocked if population-based economic growth rates in the third world are a number of percentage points behind what the typical equity analyst expects in a corporate earnings forecast.
The NRA exists solely to promote the right of mostly-rural middle-aged white men to own ridiculously large gun collections, and to lobby for the right to hunt endangered species wherever they see fit. All the Defenders of the Constitution banner-waving is just a convenient PR tool.
These wannabe Minutemen and Defenders of Truth, Justice, and the American Way also happen to be ardent Law 'n Order enthusiasts and blindly patriotic.
If it ever came down to popular insurrection against the government, most of these clowns will either be cowering in their basements counting their bullets or actively supporting the government in the fight against the Un-Amurkin Atheist Commie Radicals.
Trying to have sympathy for the NRA is something akin to trying to find a humane side to Pol Pot.
There is a profound difference between superficially biased journalism and state-monitored corporate journalism. The former is mere human failing, the latter is despotism.
Nobody expects real journalism from the mainstream. It is the muzzling of independent journalism that ushers in our brave new world.
Apparently our freely-elected Constitutional government has succeeded in creating a critical mass of fear in the US. Real investigative journalism, what little there actually was, is now dead. We are therefore left with only state-approved information exchange.
Time for me to get my passport renewed and learn a new language. Fuck this country. I can get a job anywhere.
Slashdot Mirror
In the USA it will probably be a "soft tyranny" of the "we know what's best for you, or else" type, not the "strong man with an iron fist" dictatorships we've seen in the past.
It is already a reality, not a probability.
If anything ever deserved a +10 "Bloody Brilliant" mod score, this does.
With the coming turmoil, "Shoes for the dead!" seems more likely.
I believe it is called, "dating".
My kingdom for mod points. Doubleplusgood.
In the minds of tyrants, suspicious of government == disloyal subversive.
In ideal principle I think you are correct. However, recent evidence would indicate that somewhat more than a few individual actors are considerably less than 100% restrained.
There are alternatives to both the status quo and nihilism. Do not let rhetorical absolutism be the enemy of practical observation and action.
A non-warrant with the force of a warrant...talk about your 4th Amendment workarounds!
If there is enough lack of urgency to bother drafting a letter, why is there not enough time to seek a proper warrant?
That's a rhetorical question. I think most people can infer the real answer.
Gee, ya think?
Pols have been cowed by their own skeletal closet contents since the days of Allen Dulles and J. Edgar Hoover.
That is why nothing short of a complete and thorough housecleaning (don't hold your breath), or a complete systemic collapse of the Establishment's economic oligarchy (in my dreams), will avail.
They don't know who you are. They can put together a pretty good picture, but they don't have a name, address, phone number, or photo of you.
That is one hell of a naive or uninformed perspective. There are these amazing things called relational databases full of lovely tables overflowing with easily-queried nuggets of yummy identifiable customer goodness.
Do you for one moment think your utility company, ISP, your social media site, health insurer, and our wonderful government don't share easily cross-referenced data? Hell, Lexisnexis knows more about you than your mom.
What color is the sky in "they"s world, or yours for that matter?
One the Army gets them, the nazis over at the DEA will want them too, and in no time at all Andy Taylor and Barney Fife will get a Homeland Security law enforcement grant so they can add this to their local sheriff's arsenal of M-16's, M-60's, and infantry fighting vehicles...so they can morph into Judge Dredd and fight the swarms of evil terrorists we see on every street corner.
Oh, like the government actually obeys it's own laws? I almost spit my lunch laughing at that one.
Things like this only serve to foster and spread an illusion of security and privacy. It may make life a little harder for the commercial maggots, but the government worms? You're as good as owned already.
If it has not already been compromised, by technology or force of law, it soon will be. Bet on it.
If no compelling medical issue requires sequencing in a newborn, it is invasive and coercive to conduct it.
Any possible beneficial result is overshadowed by the inevitable abuse and misuse of the results. All I can see is creating a brand for each new child that will influence and determine decisions that may in fact have no significant scientific bearing. Predisposition is not certainty, and decisions based on uncertainty are, well, stupid.
I'll be damned if I want my grandchildren automatically genome-branded by the government to the detriment of their education, employment, and insurability.
Bruce nailed it. We've sat on our collective asses and watched the politicians, spooks, and marketing clowns turn an engineering marvel into a sad parody of it's former intended self. I don't think anyone nowadays can question the need for some serious re-engineering. We can solve the technical problems and propose new standards and protocols.The real question is how do we implement the fix.
Will the standards committees support it? Will the Powers that Be allow it? Like Bill the Bard wrote, "Aye, there's the rub."
The root problem, appalling pun gleefully intended, is political, not technical.
Between unlimited resources and questionable legal tactics, the NSA and other sigint agencies can and will always compel or bribe that which they cannot hack. Software crowbars, legal hammers, and moneybags of grease are everything they need. For every new solution, they will create a new problem.
The only guaranteed solutions are either the (don't hold your breath) complete abolition these government entities, with no successor remakes, or the courts and Congress must hamstring them with crystal-clear transparency (still possible, but politically unlikely).
To believe otherwise underestimates the present unfettered powers, technical, legal, and financial, of the government.
Nonsense. It is foolish to conflate proficiency with a tool, albeit a common one, with native scientific understanding of said tool.
Does your average expert sniper necessarily know the metallurgical properties of gun barrels or the physics of optics? Probably not, and doesn't care. Ballistics is about as deep as it gets, and generally only on the practical level.
Familiarity and proficiency with features and optimum usage are indicators of interest and affinity, not technical understanding. While not exclusive, they are not exactly co-dependent either.
I only use this example because many years ago I helped train snipers and got to know quite a few.
I have no study to justify my theory, but I wouldn't be at all shocked if population-based economic growth rates in the third world are a number of percentage points behind what the typical equity analyst expects in a corporate earnings forecast.
The NRA exists solely to promote the right of mostly-rural middle-aged white men to own ridiculously large gun collections, and to lobby for the right to hunt endangered species wherever they see fit. All the Defenders of the Constitution banner-waving is just a convenient PR tool.
These wannabe Minutemen and Defenders of Truth, Justice, and the American Way also happen to be ardent Law 'n Order enthusiasts and blindly patriotic.
If it ever came down to popular insurrection against the government, most of these clowns will either be cowering in their basements counting their bullets or actively supporting the government in the fight against the Un-Amurkin Atheist Commie Radicals.
Trying to have sympathy for the NRA is something akin to trying to find a humane side to Pol Pot.
No.
Said the brave AC punk.
Iceland.
Game, set, and match.
There is a profound difference between superficially biased journalism and state-monitored corporate journalism. The former is mere human failing, the latter is despotism.
Nobody expects real journalism from the mainstream. It is the muzzling of independent journalism that ushers in our brave new world.
Groklaw will be missed. You are, and will remain, a rock star. :)
Apparently our freely-elected Constitutional government has succeeded in creating a critical mass of fear in the US. Real investigative journalism, what little there actually was, is now dead. We are therefore left with only state-approved information exchange.
Time for me to get my passport renewed and learn a new language. Fuck this country. I can get a job anywhere.
Dude, it's a party...lose the buzzkill. :)