Why Have We As A Society Given Up Our Right To Privacy?
Not so long ago privacy was an expected right amongst all Americans, but now, by the day it seems like an right that has become relic of the past. The majority of people are willing to give up their right to privacy under an idea that “If I have nothing to hide why do I need privacy”, is astounding. The realization of the loss of privacy came to a peak with the Snowden Revelations, but how did we get here?
Post 9/11 World
People talk about the pre 9/11 having much less oversight and to a point they are actually correct. Before 9/11 many precedents like legal warrantless wiretapping and surveillance were not broken. Until the point that the NSA convinced our country that the best option to safety was to forfeit our rights of privacy, there was still a protocol authorities needed to follow. This all changed when the Patriot Act was quickly signed into law in October 2001, which gave authorities the legal power to pursue anyone they wished, with unlimited legal authority. Even with the Patriot act, some authorities still went beyond what they were legally allowed to do because lack of oversight at the time let them run free.
Inside Washington there were still large pushes for the government to extend surveillance as far as the general public. These pushes for greater surveillance themselves would create a basis, for future politicians and NSA funded projects, to build off. Most people were under the impression that suspected terrorists would be the only focus of the new surveillance, but records in recent years show that even in the beginning, these practices were heavily used on people suspected of all crimes. Those in power were breaking the law and to this day most have not been held accountable.
Mass Hysteria And Fear Amongst The Public
The biggest reason why the government was able to get away with the newly created security laws after 9/11 was due to the mass amount of hysteria and fear that followed 9/11 and other terrorist attacks in the upcoming weeks. People were afraid to fly, afraid to walk their dogs, or just go out to eat at a restaurant. Despite the chance of being killed by a terrorist being smaller than the chance of getting killed by a vending machine, people instantly gave up all their rights as collateral for safety. Fear made people weak and the government took advantage of this fact. Total surveillance over the people they govern has been the governments wet dream for centuries and because of technological advances and the rise of hysteria in the United States it became a possibility.
If total surveillance wasn’t enough, the government also tried to vilify those who spoke out against it. If you stood up for your rights, suddenly you were labeled unpatriotic or anti-American, when the very thing you were standing up for was what America was supposedly based off of. The media was happy to jump in and frame the same arguments the government was making, vilifying whistle blowers and playing up the levels of terrorism in the world so the average viewer would continue to watch. Even today Edward Snowden is considered an enemy of the state by many, partially because of how the media portrayed and continues to portray him. People in the US have decided that their rights are now expendable as long as they can save themselves a little bloodshed.
I say what is the point of living then? Without freedom what kind of lives do we have to protect? With little to no evidence that the amount of mass surveillance has done anything to stop recent terrorist attacks, why are we giving up our freedom for nothing? This is only the beginning as well, even after the realizations that came with Snowden, the NSA has STILL continued to get more government funding and increased the amount of international surveillance that goes on. If we don’t come together and do something quickly, the system that continues to grow will get to a point of no return. In fact we might be at that point already. We have tools like cryptocurrency to fight back , but whether or not it is enough is unknown. I hope our future doesn’t end up like the bleak ones described in novels like 1984, but there is a sizable probability that it will if something isn’t done.
-Calaber24p
Here's Harry Truman's advisor on why they started Communist-and-subversive witch hunts: "We did not believe there was a real problem. A problem was being manufactured. … We had a presidential campaign ahead of us, and here was a great issue, a very damaging one, so he set up the whole machinery."
There are many studies backing up your point: In the face of an exaggerated or manufactured "threat," people are willing to sacrifice their privacy and freedom. I'm actually in the middle of a huge story on it I've been researching for several months. Will post a link here.
In the meantime, the question, as raised in some of the comments is: Besides what we give away to or accept from the government because of FEAR, how much privacy and personal information and biometrics are we giving to corporations (and the government for TSA Precheck and similar programs) for CONVENIENCE?
https://steemit.com/sports/@kamrulrng24/eagles-vs-colts-live-online-time-tv-schedule-and-how-to-watch-nfl-preseason-online
Got my upvote. I am completely disillusioned and pissed off at the feral government and becoming more anarchist every day. I used to think of anarchists as crazy, violent druggies that just wanted to burn everything down. Now I realize this is a group of people who just want all their freedom and liberties back. I have a lot in common with that.
And it disgusts me that people are so brainwashed that we end up with Trump and Hillary for our two presidential candidates.
With all the data these bastards have mined from the American people they have picked the perfect false dichotomy that will lead to the same objective through alternate means.
Thay are playing on all the frustrations that have been built up on both sides over the last 15 years or so. We are accelerating towards the camps unless we do something to stop it or just bend over and take it until we die anyway.
I have been waiting for some big event but I realized not too long ago that it actually serves them better to just slowly turn up the heat under the kettle until all the frogs are boiled.
I also used to fall in line with the crowd and prefer safety over privacy but I am sick and tired of thinking that my every move is being watched by an ever more tyrannical government.
There is a quote I read a long time ago I am going to try to repeat from memory. "Those who trade their liberty for security deserve neither." I believe this saying is attributed to Franklin, but certainly holds true for our present day and age. Your comment above reflects a lot of my background and current way of thinking. Thanks for posting!
Glenn Greenwald says it best: https://www.ted.com/talks/glenn_greenwald_why_privacy_matters?language=en
People are willing to give away their privacy just to earn money on Steemit - some might say this is the true freedom ;)
No one is truly free, some countries are just better pretenders than the others. Curious to see where it will be going thoug. Good post, by the way!
It's a tough call. If there is no surveillance, then all terror motivated crimes will get through. I can not speak for the US, but in Canada, there have been quite a few potential attacks prevented in part by acting on information gleaned using surveillance. The most recent one was where the US team provided the Canadian team with the information to stop the attack.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/08/18/taxi-driver-in-terror-takedown-says-police-put-his-life-at-risk.html
My question is ... how much is a life worth. If the Canadian government had surveillance on 25 million people and are able to prevent an attack that would kill 100 people, is it worth it? I don't have an answer.
be careful about taking at face value that quite a few potential attacks have been prevented. These agencies can say that and due to 'national security' and/or 'the privacy act', they don't' have produce any proof of their claims. As long as the people believe attacks are being prevented, the intrusions into privacy can continue and the funding will be there.
Many attacks in the US have been facilitated by the FBI. What? Yes, our FBI will often times continually drop ideas into the heads of these people trying to bate them in to action. Often times the FBI has fueled the already burning mindset of a would be attacker, set them up with the props needed, led them to FBI informants, and given them the needed info to carry out plans that are often times fed to the by the FBI.
You can find more through a Google search, but here is an article and several good links through it to back up the claims. The FBI is not always being the good ole' boys in there attempts.
http://creativetimereports.org/2015/01/26/fbi-counterterrorism-lyric-cabral-david-felix-sutcliffe-sundance/
http://creativetimereports.org/2015/01/26/fbi-counterterrorism-lyric-cabral-david-felix-sutcliffe-sundance/
I believe the only 3 real terror attacks that have been prevented since 911 have been prevented by citizen actions and have completely gotten past the government. All other attackers have carried out their plans, so not caught by the government, or the government themselves, such as the CIA and FBI, manipulated individuals into thinking they should carry out a terrorist act so that they could "stop" them. Which btw is ridiculous. Stopping someone from doing something they weren't going to do without that same person convincing them to do it isn't helping anyone.
Good article on a relevant topic. Coming from a guy who worked to get the red light cameras down in my old neighborhood, privacy is something that I foresee being a scarce resource for the non-political class.
Its hard to say if were at that point of no return into the surveillance state but I think we can have some hope in the free market to provide safer and secure tools to combat being surveilled on. As these revelations circulation grows public outrage will inevitably be enough to set fire all government credibility and reveal the entities inherent evils. The funding and trusting must end. Life should be lived free.
Great article, thank you for the sharing, namaste :)
Post 9/11 world? Try as far back as 1907, when The Carnegie Institution started collecting index cards on ordinary Americans, under the science of eugenics. Mass hysteria is utilized by I think every country in the world to control the herd.
Because humans (in general) are stupid and will believe anything their government tells them, even "security requires giving up your rights".
Oh and I just published "The Secrets Steemit's Whale's Don't Want You To Know!"
I believe in privacy even if America has become apathetic towards it by using devices without the knowledge of how those devices are recording data. I know there are others that also believe and together I have hope that decentralizing the internet again will be the first step. When a consensus has been achieved then the real development can begin to allow information from one party to be relevant to other parties that have been designated. Putting the genie back in the bottle is an enormous challenge, but in time and cooperation I hope it will occur.