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TechnoratiEvery Year Brings Us Closer to 1984
In the beginning was the fingerprint.
It was in the 19th century that scientists realized the ridged whorls on the tip of the finger constituted a unique marker that could be used to tell one person from another. And eventually, the FBI built a massive database of fingerprints.
Then came DNA. In the 20th century, scientists learned to use the double helix nucleic acid molecule as a means of identification even more definitive than the fingerprint. And the FBI built a DNA database as well.
Now the feds are building yet another database. And it has some folks worried.
Maybe you missed it in the run-up to Super Duper Tuesday, but CNN and the Associated Press reported last week that the FBI will soon award a $1 billion, 10-year contract for construction of an electronic file that would store not just fingerprints and DNA, but a vast compendium of other physical characteristics. We're talking eye scans, facial shape, palm prints, scars, tattoos and other biometrics, all for the purpose of identifying and capturing bad guys.
But at least one privacy advocate thinks even good guys -- and gals -- have cause for concern. Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Project, told CNN, ``It's the beginning of the surveillance society where you can be tracked anywhere, any time and all your movements, and eventually all your activities will be tracked and noted and correlated.''
I know what you're saying and it makes a certain amount of sense: If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. Well, I haven't done wrong, but it worries me just the same.
Still, I am forced to admit that in a way, there is nothing new here. The government has for years collected fingerprints -- not just of criminals, but also of certain job applicants. And no one raises any concerns about that.
What's happening now, it could be reasonably argued, is only a high-tech extension of that. Except that instead of just your fingerprints, the government will also have on file the shape of your iris, that scar from your childhood appendectomy, and the butterfly tattoo on your inner thigh.
What troubles me is the comprehensiveness of the information the feds propose to gather. It calls to mind discomfitting reminders of the totalitarian states so chillingly depicted in Fahrenheit 451 and 1984, oppressive regimes that saw everything, knew everything, regulated everything. Given the advances in technology and the ominous, Orwellian turn our government has lately taken, the comparison seems far less far-fetched than once it might have.
It's not just the government, though. In recent years, the right to privacy, the right to simply be left alone, has also been eroded by the corporate community -- everything from supermarket discount cards that track your buying habits to online businesses that install secret spyware in your computer to monitor your behavior online. And we haven't even mentioned that there is a camera on every street corner nowadays.
''I always feel like somebody's watching me.'' That used to be just the hook from a schlocky '80s song. Increasingly, it is an apt description of modern life. Now the FBI proposes to collect and collate still more personal information. It swears that information will be protected, will be used only to ferret out criminals. It's hard to argue with that: Who doesn't want law enforcement to have every available tool for smoking out criminals?
But I can't help a certain wariness when I consider the ease with which the program could expand far beyond that mission. As Steinhardt sees it, first criminals, then job applicants and then, ``Eventually, it's going to be everybody.''
I admit, he might be wrong.
But you know something? He might not.
--Leonard Pitts Jr.
Copyright 2008 Miami Herald Media Co.
58 Comments so far
Show AllI agree with Moonshadow. We are forced to fund oppressive surveillance. I recently had to get fingerprinted for school and felt forever marked. Their excuse was that they take security to the highest levels. Yeah the government likes to appease us all by reinforcing that "if you are a good citizen, you have nothing to fear." We have everything to fear. Someone above mentioned that what is now legal can very quickly change. Big brother is reaching new heights with technology. The manipulation of propaganda has us believing that it is for our own security. More like their power-security. Any sign of protest or resistance will be more quickly detected and disseminated.
1984 IS HERE! WHAT'S THIS CLOSER STUFF? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN GETTING YOUR INFORMATION?
It's the sort of thing all military Juntas do, North Korea, Burma and Argentina all have military tribunals and secret police targetting " enemies of state ". The arabs locked up in Guatanamo have been tortured to the point where they will plead guilty to anything and be glad of the death sentence.
Well somebody has to be blamed for the 911 false flag haven't they.
Nathaniel Heidenheimer wrote:
You CANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOT petition the DNC with prayer!!!!!
I wasn't suggesting we should. The Bible, like Nostradamus' prophecies, is a very useful book in that you can twist it to uphold almost any argument you like.
WmC wrote: "Robert Scheer (http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/06/6870/)
says the "national security" is now $700 billion per year which amounts to something like $7,000 per household per year.
I'd like to know how much the new initiatives will cost, and what is their likelyhood of preventing future Timothy McVeighs, Eric Rudolphs, Columbine High Schools, and Virginia Techs?"
That's what irritates me too, that all this money is being ostensibly spent to protect us but is seemingly being wasted. But I'm not stupid. This isn't about protecting us, it's about oppressing us and knowing who they need to lock up when they finally get around to openly overthrowing the government. If they were really wanting to protect us, they'd have made the nuclear and chemical plants beef up their security, they'd be inspecting containers at the ports and they'd sure be paying more attention to our food supply. Not to mention weaning us from the oil beastie.
Robert Scheer (http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/06/6870/)
says the "national security" is now $700 billion per year which amounts to something like $7,000 per household per year.
I'd like to know how much the new initiatives will cost, and what is their likelyhood of preventing future Timothy McVeighs, Eric Rudolphs, Columbine High Schools, and Virginia Techs?
Swiss friends recently told us that an acquaintence of theirs on the US No-Fly List only had to apply for a ticket using their first initial and had no problem booking a flight to the US.
Totally agree with satr9prodxns. Isn't their a better way to use OUR tax money then keeping tabs on us? How about increasing dollars to education or a national health care system. Let's focus on some of the bigger issues that face our society today, and not waste money on trackig us, the law abiding, tax paying citizens of this country.
To mind comes Pastor Martin Niemoeller's famous quote...when they came for the Jews I did nothing, I wasn't a Jew; when they came for the communists I did nothing, I wasn't a communist....and so on. And if the government spies on the guilty one, why should I care...I am not guilty. And who will be left to care for me if I don't care what the government is doing? Guilty or not, WE MUST CARE about what is happening to our privacy. "War against terror" is just a cover-up for government's evil.
I'm a progressive but I have to admit I do not understand all this hysteria about the government having personal data about my iris and body marks.
Who gives a shi'ite?!
When I lived in Virginia, my height, eye color, weight, and date of birth were on my driver's license.
So what?!
How does this negatively affect my life one lick? If I had a tattoo and the government had it on file -- so what? What difference does it make? How does this change my life?
Honestly, we complain about living in fear. We complain here about Bush and his men exploiting and promoting a culture of fear to push a radical right wing agenda.
I would encourage anyone who is frustrated with the prevailing culture of fear in America to take a pause, lengthen the wonderful margin between stimulus and response, allow time for reflection, and consider all appeals to fear critically -- even if they come from progressive sources -- before consenting to arguments originating in fearfulness.
The US State Department is already compiling the history's largest collection of photographs and finger prints. It includes the faces and prints of both index fingers of every single non-citizen coming into the USA. These pictures and prints are recorded very single time a non-citizen enters into the USA. Since the pictures are close-ups of faces (and we do not know the megapixels used) they can probably be used to collect information mentioned in this article: eye scans and facial shapes. Having multiple copies of the same person provide wonderful opportunities to test and fine-tune any computer models and monitoring systems.
By the ways, these pictures and prints have no expiration dates. I asked. They're kept forever.
Now, who wants all this information to be retained by the government on governmental computers? All computers are hackable. Also, this is a way to get around the US phobia of 'National ID Cards.'
I cannot believe that collecting all this information make us ordinary people safer. All it does is bind us into an increasing web of fear and suspicion. Yep--1984 and Fahrenheit 451 all over again.
Note, with all these new security laws we are all deemed terrorists from the get-go. There is no longer anything about being innocent until proven guilty. We no longer have Habeas Corpus.
Finally, many visitors to the USA put up with these new guidelines because they have pressing reasons to visit the USA. Many others, however, are deciding to go elsewhere. More power to them!
You CANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOT petition the DNC with prayer!!!!!
Not that I'm a Christian, but this passage from Revelations seems creepily pertinent:
Revelation 13:17 (New International Version)
so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
Maybe those Rapture folks have something after all. I'm waiting for the dogs and cats to start living together.
If you aven't done anything wrong, you don't need to worry about living in a Total Surveillance Society.
Right.
You don't know whether what youre doing today, perfectly legally, will be against the law later on, and you will be prosecuted retroactively.
Kafka's "The Trial" should be required reading. Or take a look at the Orson Welles production of it from 1962. Also read "Fahrenheit 451" and see the movies, "Brazil" and "Children of Men".
The discouraging part is, we've all been warned for most of a century, about what's happening today, but we were so sure "It Can't Happen Here".
This tasering of suspects and protestors, grannies in wheelchairs and children is evidence of the enhanced brutality with which those in power treat the ordinary citizenry. It will only get worse. Welcome to the Plantation.
Osama Bin Laden is just another CIA agent. They were never going to catch him.
So much of what goes on is for the citizens benefit.
Like, just for asking,
"Why are you doing this?"
could lead the police to say you are
insubordinate
and be
justified in tasing you.
That guy in Florida who was trying to ask John Kerry (Irony!!)a question and got dragged away and tased repeatedly. I mean what was the real message to everybody there?!
"..they give you coupons tailored to you and One day I got coupons for beer and diapers."
I guess for full analysis of this situation I must add that I was married to an alcoholic and had a baby at home.
Safeway was sensitive to our situation.
That reminds me of how Safeway store tracks every purchase when you swipe your super savers card and then with your receipt they give you coupons tailored to you and One day I got coupons for beer and diapers.
Just like tasers to scare the average person into avoiding any controversy. And all this information collection; that could be used at some unknown time, I dont know, my imagination could run away with this and yet another part of me thinks it is all just to make us "feel" watched and therefore malleable to a greater agenda.
Remember they told us like a drum beating into our heads starting on 9/11: "9/11 has forever changed us as a country...."
dinsmore - ditto!
I posted the following 2 hours ago but it never went through. I guess maybe I've been on a Green-Anarchist roll lately, referring to Alex too much for the tastes of folks around here. So here it goes with a different username...
truenorth,
IMO, Alex Jones is one of the most important voices in America today. He's in Austin Texas, just a rock's throw from the NAFTA superhighway, and has documented all kinds of NATO, US, and Mexican Army operations right there in his lone star state. The US army has been engaged in martial law drills across the country since the Oklahoma City bombing. The stuff Alex talks about IS coming. It's better to be forewarned than to stick our heads in the sand. 9/11 and the War on Terror have benefitted certain people in the US. 9/11 is the lynchpin for the neocons and their Project for a New American Century. New Yorkers are involved in a ballot initiative to force the government to do a real investigation of this tragedy, rather than accept the 9/11 Commission's whitewash.
http://www.nyc911initiative.org/
Your ad hominem on Alex doesn't cut it. I've cross referenced quite a bit of what he's talking about. It holds water. He's had a lot of important people on his show, like Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney, and Ron Paul. Some might not care for his style of presentation -- but that's an aesthetics issue only. He's passionate -- a quality sorely missing from the "left." And if Alex is a bit paranoid, there are good reasons for it. It's better to be hyper-vigilant than asleep at the wheel like 3/4ths of the American citizenry is.
Peace.
Truenorth:
Shooting the messenger won't get you anything but old news too late. The reason I suggested that one "read, listen, scrutinize, and decide for yourself" before posting the link was to provide a caveat to someone looking to pounce on me for making the suggestion that they not do exactly what you did: purportedly accept the words of Chomsky and the like as fact, while damning Alex Jones for (albeit tastelessly) delivering a sometimes different, but often similar message. I'm not crazy about Alex Jones either. However, he has invested more time and energy into exposing the network of world-crooks than MOST others in the media. Do us all a favor and DO link to his shows, etc., as I intend to continue doing so. I would prefer to be surrounded by his listeners than most NPR listeners confusing their squirrels and tree-rats, telling me which "billionaire for change" to vote for next.
http://www.infowars.com
Pretty soon you will be required to give personal information just like taxes. They will plant a chip to track you everywhere. Most people will think it is ok because the GPS cellphones and all will be in the hands of all the cool people.
I don't have a cellphone but my wife and daughters do. If I ever got one I would want it to make calls only. I don't get around much and I am never lost. Someone will always tell me where to go!
I also don't want talking cars with directions on board. Pretty soon the car will tally your traffic fines for the cops and add it to your price at the pump. If I wanted conversation in the car I would travel with someone. People should be left as much liberty as possible and machines should shut up and do what they are told. 1984 and Bu$h the inferior are examples of confusing the roles of things and people.
...an afterthought...
Have you ever copied some software from a friend?
Do you have an old VHS tape copy of a favorite movie?
You -- and millions upon millions like you -- have committed a felony. They've got virtually EVERYBODY, already. I am certain they passed tose seemingly innocuous laws seen on warnings on the beginnings of tapes and dvd's to make sure almose everyone was a felon. It is now meely a question of which ones to persecute (and which nes can literally get away with murder).
We're cattle for the oligarchy. Chickens to pluck. Sheep to fleece. Beasts of the field. We make their stuff, then we buy it and participate in our own destruction.
Instead of cattlebrands or earclips we carry cellphones that track us. Our pets carry microchips that track us. Our babies too will have chips implanted "to prevent kidnapping". Our personal history is in Langley's computers.
From the corporate state rises Mammon, a beast from hell consuming all, shooting fire from the sky at those who dare stand before it. It is stupid, like most beasts, knows only violence and destruction and will eventually consume itself.
But then this beast will lie dormant in the ashes until its bestial worshippers awaken it and the cycle begins once more. Only the humans among us can keep the beast from rising again.
It's not whether you have or have not done anything "wrong."
It is about who gets to decide what is "wrong," and who has "laws" or other rules that allow them to to apply measures, coercive or otherwise against their adversaries.
"Wrong" is done daily in the White House. They don't have to worry -- until the people wise up.
To stop, or better, reverse, this trend towards 1984: IMPEACH! Push to IMPEACH!
We don't need to escalate surveillance. Nobody is trying to subvert this nation. However, somebody might be trying to subvert the fascist network, but that's not the same thing. The nation should focus on getting rid of the fascist network, then all of the extraneous problems of fascism will go to the anaerobic digester along with it. The fascist network hasn't any natural support. It's all a fabrication.
The article makes a valid point in stating more personal information being gathered by the government about individuals can become and already is a very dangerous turn of events. For anyone to assume that this information will be used against only a few selected, 'high profile' individuals; well, I cannot even begin to comment on the simpleminded naivety of that childish view. You may not know that the person who you hire to paint your house is connected to a person who is connected to someone else whom the government is watching. Now, by association, you are added to a list of contacts and your calls, emails, letters and comings and goings are the subject of surveillance.
Anyone who does not want privacy or value it may have personal issues they would best be working out with a social therapist.
It is your kids who will know that everything they do is recorded. Your kids will grow up knowing that they must be careful of what they say. The engame is the self censorship society.
The mark of the beast will be electronic tagging. Who watches the watchers? Only the watchers do and that is classified (or priviledged like Infraguard).
No maybe they can't quite do now what they are creating so as to be able to do later. "What me worry?"
Sure you can say that but your children will not. Our kids will grow up worrying which is the intent.
Self censorship.
The only fear we need fear is the fear of our own freedoms for then we will not fight to keep them.
They got a lot of this in the UK already, every now and then a couple of DVD disks go missing and all the data for the entire country has just been lost in the wild to be found and used by unknown people for who knows what.
Dictators hate privacy for everyone but themselves.
Mr Pitts has always been respected and enjoyed by THIS gringo
he knows what he says, from the heart
Senor Pescado
iammyself (February 11th, 2008 5:19 pm)
Thank you for the link!
The problem with the above article is 1884 is here now. I
recall having read Orwell's book 3-4 times (I'm beginning
to like it)
Winston Smith worked in the "Ministry of Truth," where-in
Winston and others were charged with searching recent newspapers for anything contrary to the war effort, and assigning the items to the "Memory Hole" which led to an
incinerator. NOTE: the destroyed tapes of "Waterboarding" and niceties.
One of the main players in 1984 was the tele-screen and the
watchful eye of "Big Brother"
With TV going all digital next year, I'd be very careful
about accepting the govt offer of supplying "Decoder boxes"
that supposedly enables older TVs to recieve the new signal.
Wonder what else these decoder boxes can see?
It's more like 1984 growing neck to neck with Nazi power and if this disastrous President has his way, the whole world will be marked, loaded onto some file and tracked within a moment's notice. I have nothing to hide? Shoot, everyone has something to hide because we are human. it is our very humanity that is at stake, our right to privacy, to the airing of our dirty laundry. I had a very sad experience revealed once to many snooping people and it was so humiliating, it almost killed me. But I carried on but will never forget or forgive these nasty snoops. To put your most secret and precious life out there in cyber space is cause to dismantle this government once and for all and get back to our freedoms.
RFID chips and databases definitely seem Orwellian. However, the first frontier that a government must breach in order to create frightened, shocked, and compliant people is the media. Control the media and you control the people.
They are almost there. Six (or is it fewer?) large corporations now own most of the media outlets in the U.S. Six! What we see, and more importantly what we don't see, is controlled by a very small minority of very powerful people.
Speaking of 1984, here's an interesting documentary that fits right in with this thread. It's over 2 hours long, so settle in to a comfy chair with some popcorn and be prepared to be shocked (or at least, made more aware).
http://freedocumentaries.org/film.php?id=87
dinsmore
linking to Alex Jones immediately calls into question any analysis you make. Surprising that you apparently listen to chomsky, zinn, and parenti, but don't recognize Jones as the worst kind of self-aggrandizing facts-be-damned Geraldo Rivera style shlock journalist that he is.
I like what YOU wrote though - but please don't ever go to or link to alex jones again... you just encourage the farcical whore. He is a damaging distraction from the work and self-education to be done.
dustinchicago
you say "remember this kind of surveillance is very very broad. We aren't tracked personally".
Read a about RFID tags, now being inserted into all products at walmart (implementation may not be complete yet, but will be). Certain tire companies already using them as well. So maybe you aren't being tracked personally, but your shirt and tires may be - and there is a video record of you buying it, and if you didn't pay cash then databases linked also. And cross linked innumerable times. If that isn't personal enough for ya, keep getting those immunization shots. One day they may contain mini rfid tags also. Sorry no reference links, too busy right now but this stuff is easily found.
peace and courage to y'all
It bothers me that the government continues to spend money on surveillance in the name of catching criminals. I think we would be better off spending that money on education and job creation, so that citizens can have more opportunities at success.
The government continues to cut back federal funds for colleges as they continue to build penitentiaries. It's terrible how the state rather send you to prison than to college.
To Nathaniel Heidenheimer:
Brilliant suggestion. I will check it out.
In the meantime (and I am not being sarcastic here), I suggest all progressives join the GOP and attend local meetings. Take over the GOP at the grass roots and cripple the sucker. Outshout the religious right ON THEIR HOME TURF. When someone talks about gay marriage (aka "marriage protection"), pipe in with language about keeping government off the backs of the little guy. "Hey, do you really want to give the government, which none of us trust one bit, the power to tell you who you can and can't marry? Whatever happened to shrinking the government?"
You get the picture.
Strange, no one has pointed out the obvious. The postion of "I do not do anything wrong, so it is okay to support increased surveillance" suffers in that what is not wrong today could become wrong tomorrow. Just imagine the number of scenarios how this can happen...
What's really funny is that when there was an initiative to create a ballistics database for bullet rifling, which would enable police to instantly identify the weapon (and its registered owner) used in a crime, the same guys, the terrorist fear mongers were all against it, screaming about privacy rights.
It's been 1984 for about 24 years now. Where have you guys been?
dinsmore wrote: I'll bet you have a cell phone. These things are heavily monitored by the N.S.A....
On NPR this AM an article on the inclusion of always-on GPS in cell-phones, the justification being that tracking traffic flow on roads would help alleviate traffic jams. The interviewee (from Nokia?) stated that GPS chips in cell-phones will be as ubiquitous in 2-3 years as cameras in phones are today.
So: We know who you are. Where you are. What you are saying. What you are watching. Who your friends are. How you spend your money.
What next? Urine testing in public toilets?
brissot , dinsmore: Hey, I agree 100% that the above article is very bad news for human beings in general. My point above is only that our leaders are often much more incompetent than we give them credit for ...and also that (in addition to this problem) there are even bigger challenges coming along for which we are utterly unprepared to handle. Domestic spying makes me think of Stalin, but global warming makes me think of Venus.
"You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide. You have nothing to hide if you have nothing to fear. So fear nothing and you need not hide. Hide nothing and you need not fear."
That's the motto of The Department of Homeland Decency as stated in its Rules and Regulations Manual. It's a great satire on decency, theocracy, and surveillance -- keeping us all in line. It's just out from Three Rivers Press. Check it out at www.homelanddecency.com
Stilba February 11th, 2008 1:28 pm
Have you considered the possibility that they haven't found Bin Laden because they haven't actually been looking for him? I won't even go into the myriad possible reasons as to why. I just wanted to suggest that anyone using such insufficient reasoning, under the impression that the state hasn't the capacity to monitor us is simply misinformed or in denial.
You're obviously using the internet with the savvy that comes from practice, most probably from the same couple of places with regularity (i.e. home and work). I'll bet you have a cell phone. These things are heavily monitored by the N.S.A., and that is mainstream knowledge, easily fact-checked by someone so savvy...
In 1993, I got my job without giving urine or fingerprints.
Now, all new nurses must give both, plus, pay for a background check. We have to pay for our own oppression! And that includes the Real ID Act, which is going to cost strapped states a fortune, at a time when states are almost bankrupt
I am outraged by this invasion of privacy, but they submit fairly willingly.
Americans are willing to kill for "freedom", but don't have a clue what freedom is.
osama bin bush and cheney's business associate
how 'bout we focus our resources (MY AND YOUR TAX DOLLARS, FOR EXAMPLE) in a reasoned way?
oh... that whole 'george bush in the white house' thing
and if the NSPD 51 says what i think it does, he'll be in the white house for a long, long time.
(elections... they help the terrorists)
And while we're talking about privacy, why do I have to give a urine specimen with my job application. That's MY urine! Why don't you just jab me with a needle as I submit my resume?
Stilba,
First of all, OBL is probably in some mountain village in Pakistan or Afghanistan, not charging stuff on his visa at your neighborhood Wal Mart or flying United.
Second, who says they WANT to find OBL?
The fact that they're so BAD at it is more reason to worry as far as I'm concerned. They screw up and you spend a good portion of your life trying to prove your innocence. Always been that way to some extent, but now its on steroids ...
This stuff scares me to death. Your average American citizen thinks this is ok because, as they say "I haven't done anything wrong so I have no need to worry." I've heard my neighbors say just this, but they're wrong. Once you give up your constitutional rights you have no more standing than the sheep in the field waiting for his turn in the slaughter house. This election couldn't be more important and we very much need to get those who think this type of national surveillance is ok out of office.
"Problem as I see it,is getting the majority to take notice of this fact or too even to want to take notice of this fact"
Yes. The problem is that we have moated ourselves on left
sites.
The Solution: paste articles from here onto mainstream newspapers.
Results: I registered on 25 different big city newspapers like, St Louis Post Dispatch etc.IN FIVE MINUTES I CAN CUT AND PASTE AN ARTICLE FROM HERE ONTO TWENTYFIVE SITES.
Think for minute: which will produce the greatest amount of change: reading another article on this site of intoducing this site INTO the MAINSTREAM?
The whole point of the article was "Who will define what is mainstream" If you paste these artiles into big daily newspaper sites, the answer is you!
When you do this you are COMBATING THE MOATING OF THE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ESSAY ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Paste away:
http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/usstate/usatable.htm
Dont forget areas of the country that probably dont get to hear any even-half-dissidentpoints of view, like Springfield Missouri!
Paul Revere,
You wrote: "It is specious and naive to say that if you are innocent you have nothing to worry about. How many innocent people have been sent to prison and were later exonerated!"
It is worse than that. As the oft-quoted and frighteningly accurate maxim by Lord Acton states, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Once feds have the power to monitor everyone, it will be only a matter of time before they do it. Such "total information awareness" would require the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), but that is coming. As a former grad student in AI, I am aware of the technical problems, but increased computing speed, parallelism, and time to develop the software should overcome all of them.
If we allow power and wealth to continue to be concentrated, our future as slaves or worse will become inevitable with algorithmic certainty.
From above: "It's the beginning of the surveillance society where you can be tracked anywhere, any time and all your movements, and eventually all your activities will be tracked and noted and correlated."
Ha ha, if they can't even find Bin Laden after half a decade, who really believes they'll ever be organized enough to track us all? In any case, the costs of global warming will defund this before they get much more of a chance to try.
The U.S. foreign policy has been fascist ( corporations in bed with the government)for many,many years, so what makes you think that the same thing will not happen to our domestic policy? It is specious and naive to say that if you are innocent you have nothing to worry about. How many innocent people have been sent to prison and were later exonerated!
I see some dangers too, mostly that we are becomming too accustomed to a survelince society, too easy with a police state. I would think too that this combined tracking information of buying habits would be most usefull to corporations (they could either get it, buy it, or steal it from the goverment) in order to better manipulate how and what you buy (or read). I do fundraising, and the more data I have on you, the easier it is for me to sell to you. For all this identification information- it seems a combined database would make it easier for id-ing, but also easier for faking ids and blaming innocents (again either given, bought or stolen, or even done by some gov. people!) It does make me afraid and paranoid- but remember this kind of survelance is very very broad. We aren't tracked personally (unless we're blacklisted) we are tracked broadly (like projected buying segments, or peace group)
frank1569:
The ruse is the notion that building non-dependable cars was/is a failure. You should consider the possibility that it would not be profitable to build a car that runs on magical fairy dust and lasts forever.
We are ready and willing to recognize that tyranny is the latent viral infection of political history. Why do we scoff at and ridicule any suggestion that the tell-tale signs are rampant today?
We love Chomsky; we love Parenti; we love Zinn; we love all of these dissenting scholars, but we shun the few unfiltered media sources that actually publish worthwhile, relevant information corroborated by great thinkers like the aforementioned.
Read, listen, scrutinize, and decide for yourself.
http://www.infowars.com
Scary thoughts.
The state is too powerful. What ever happened to the bill of rights?
"I know what you're saying and it makes a certain amount of sense: If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. Well, I haven't done wrong, but it worries me just the same."
It shouldn't, because the feds simply do not have the resources to analyze the incredible amount of data gathered. Most of the info will be used to blackmail certain citizens - politicos, reporters, CEOs, etc (the usual cause of the overnight issue flipflop, or when a Senator votes against his own bill) - the rest will be ignored.
And to prove we're nowhere near "1984" - just look at how the Feds continue their attempts to force reporters and journalists to reveal sources. If the government was as Orwellian as they want us to believe, they would have no need to force anyone to reveal anything, because they would already know what they need to know.
It's all a ruse to keep the non-elite afraid and paranoid. The truth is, we're as bad at running the "surveillance society" as we are at building dependable cars.
"You do not have anything to fear unless you have done something wrong."
Who gets to decide what is wrong? In some states even being caught with pot lands you in jail. BOOM! You were wrong. Or were you?
The religious zealots want to govern by the Bible. Who is to say right and wrong does not soon dictate your personal life?
Once it was against the law to assist run away slaves, was it wrong if you did?
And laws vary from state to state on many rules as well as how much money you got. Do Wall street types go to jail for their insider rules? No. But a guy who robs the of $20 7-11 gets five years.
What about those WRONGLY given the death penalty? Obviously right and wrong is not a moral absolute. It is the whims of the government of the moment.
That should scare everybody.
There is an online petition asking the DNC to choose the candidate with the most votes and delegates rather than take the chance on a secret backroom deal.
Please sign the petition and pass it on to your friends.
http://www.petitiononline.com/Superdel/petition.html
Education and Job Creation do not have the exhorbitant ROI that drive the fear-based economy - in fact, real education and job creation would eliminate the fear from the economy - and we can't have that....can wwe.