If you think what Edward Snowden did was wrong, read this article by John Lanchester.
|
|||||
|
We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people. Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house] Authors
Arts, Tech & CultureCivil LibertiesCommentary
EconomicsSamizdatistas |
If you think what Snowden did was wrong, read this…October 3rd, 2013 |
 18 comments to If you think what Snowden did was wrong, read this… |
Who Are We?The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling. We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe. CategoriesArchivesFeed This PageLink Icons   |
|||
All content on this website (including text, photographs, audio files, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License. |
|||||
Utterly dreadful, which is why I have a PAYG mobile phone and SIM, bought for cash which gets junked every autumn and replaced with a new phone, SIM and number.
Its why I pay for everything in cash.
Its why I’m not on the electoral role and everything is in my brother-in-laws name (as he’s the one I rent the apartment from).
I deregistered from the doctors in 2009 and have never re-registered (I use a private GP) under the name Smith.
The only way to avoid abuse by agencies like the NSA, GCHQ and the like is to get yourself out of the databases they are trawling.
Even if all of this were illegal, they’d still do it by other means.
We are too far down the wormhole to come back now. Any politico who stood on a ‘close down GCHQ’ ticket would disappear sharpish, not literally in a bullet in the head and shallow grave sort of way, but some sort of concocted charges – child porn probably. Something suitably indelibly character staining. And the masses could go back to worrying about Premier League football, X Factor and buying tat on credit.
Only one thing will destroy it all now – a full collapse of the State apparatus for whatever reason.
A good article. Long, but thoughtful. (BTW, I am among those who think that not only did Snowden do nothing wrong, but he is a national hero.)
Snowden is certainly a national hero for the US and should be honoured here also.
A smaller part of this story is playing out in London on, I’m told, the 6th of November. David Miranda (with the help of the Guardian) is challenging the legality of his nine hour detention under terror laws at Heathrow for the crime of working on the NSA story with his journalist partner.
I’d like to be there, if I can find enough support, and make some noise. If you are up for it, click on my name and use the Contact button in the top right.
Remember, Remember, the 6th of November!
Could be a movie in that…
My favourite quote so far: “To put it crudely, Google doesn’t just know you’re gay before you tell your mum; it knows you’re gay before you do. And now GCHQ does too.”
Off topic a little, but I find the Guardian’s opposition to a surveillance state a bit odd. Under many circumstances they would favour a very intrusive surveillance state indeed.
Devices in cars to track how far you travel
Devices in bins to track what you throw away
Just two exames I can think of off the top of my head.
The Guardian isn’t against a surveillance society – they are against one which might be used against people like them.
plus i don’t need to add their past and present support for Communist regimes, who have been known to favour intrusive surveillance systems, I am told.
Rob this is true and there is more than a little inconsistency, hypocrisy and incoherence at work here… nevertheless, the Guardian, inconsistency, hypocrisy and incoherence not withstanding, has done a magnificent job on this issue.
How magnificent would the job have been if it was a reporter from another paper that was detained?
Am I to take it that you do not pledge to be of service to Obama?
Why does it matter? Besides, it is not *The Guardian* that did this job, it is *some people* who happened to work there – the fact that the management went along with this is not surprising, seeing as if they didn’t, some other media outlet would. And, it is commendable, no matter the motives.
Some of Assange’s actions have never sat entirely comfortably with me. Snowden, on the other hand, is a hero. I hope – if the good guys win – centuries in the future our humanoid descendants will learn of the great courage and sacrifice of Edward Snowden. One of the genuinely quixotic figures in recent times.
I agree with you, James; Assange is a strange mix. Still, I’m interested in that new movie about him, “The Fifth Estate”, which is due to come out in a few weeks. Does anyone know any more about it than what is in the trailer?
On the other hand, I suspect there’d be no Snowden without Assange.
I’m going to see it.
Thanks, Alisa.
http://wikileaks.org/First-Letter-from-Julian-Assange.html