In the old days...
I used to like the internet. I used to see it as a tool for good.
Now I increasingly see it as a tool for nefarious purposes. The noble are outnumbered by the maleficent.
I really want to believe the that people are inherently good but then I read articles like this one that talk about the NSA having built the capability to capture all phone calls within the last thirty days for an entire country.
Yes, that's right.
All your phone calls are belong to us! (Sorry "all your base" guys but we're taking those too! (Sorry for the ancient internet meme reference. And for anyone who feels strongly about grammar abuses.))
That bears repeating.
All phone calls
in an entire COUNTRY
for the last thirty (30) days.
And yet we can't find one lost airplane.
But we know everything that was said in an entire country in the last month.
Can we solve world hunger?
Nope, we're too busy figuring out how to record all of the calls of an entire second country for the last month.
Hey, what about achieving world peace?
It'd be great if we could stop fighting. This whole business with Russia annexing Crimea would be a non-issue. Fighting in the Middle East? Syria? Done and over with. The war on terror and the war against drugs? We declared a winner and everybody lived happily ever after.
Oh, and bad news if you were a fan of crime, exciting as it could be rich with drama and strife. Television and movies may have to find other sources to draw upon to entertain future audiences. Maybe something a bit more...cerebral? In order to continue to encourage interest in fields that will continue to advance the human race? We can still have imaginative mindless (mm, well, there's a line between totally mindless and great imaginative/creative works) fun that will help inspire future generations.
Hey, you know what, eventually Earth is going to run out of space and resources. What if we could colonize our solar system and the stars beyond it?
Nah, we have plenty of time before we have to worry about over-taxing the Earth's natural resources. We'll worry about that later. Global warming? Poppycock, didn't you see the news? We had record snowfall this winter with more frequent and colder temperatures than in ages! There's nothing to worry about. (Sigh. How short-sighted...)
Why can't we apply the same level of focus and commitment of some the world's greatest minds to more important problems that actually are worth solving for instead of ones that don't need to be? If we managed world peace or could settle the stars so that those with conflicts could continue to expand while having their own place...wouldn't that be better than having to worry about terrorists? Mind you I feel like peace and harmony should be a requirement before branching out into the stars, as much as I'd love to see us colonize space because I don't want to see us fighting in the stars.
In this instance I would prefer a Star Trek-ish future compared to a Star Wars-ish future. Star Trek humanity has learned to live in peace with one another, mind you things may not be so great with some of the other galactic races but at least all humans manage to live in peace with one another. Things always seemed a bit iffy with the Klingons; they were at war with the Borg; and I thought they were at war with the Romulans, who had a tendency to come off as bullies.
Star Wars on the other hand had the Clone Wars (between Episodes II and III) and the old Galactic Republic crumbles and gives way to the Empire ruled by a single dictator who gave in to the dark side. With rebel infighting (by Episode IV) in order to recover capital and restore the galactic republic followed by fighting from the remaining survivors of the empire...is that somewhere you would want to live? Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle look as if they are barely living above the poverty level. The landspeeder Luke flies looks like the kind of car a teenager would end up with if given a budget of about a thousand dollars in the US. It's old, it doesn't look like much, and if you are lucky you bought something fairly reliable like a Honda Civic/Accord or a Toyota Corolla/Camry. Is that the kind of future you want to live in? While Star Wars might be more colourful and have more character than the Star Trek universe do you want to have to worry about having enough credits to afford to live? In the Star Trek universe most of your needs would be provided for. If you want to learn you could go to school and study without having to worry about how to afford it. If you want a job you could have one but working wouldn't be required. (Did I link to the article about the economy of Star Trek here in the last month? I should dig it up again, it was a quality read even if long. There, done.)
Today I got a chance to read the transcript of Senator Dianne Feinstein's statement and...wow. Now, I know this was about the CIA providing and then retracting information to the Intelligence Committee for an oversight investigation they were conducting and at one point in the transcript--as I recall it was a good ways in, maybe three quarters or more? Possibly the last/second to last paragraph: P.S. Next time, start with this. Your audience had very likely lost interest by the time you made the biggest most important point of all--she basically asks what the point of the oversight committee is if the CIA who is being investigated can control and manipulate records after they have been provided to the committee. What's the point of having checks and balances if they are defeated? Then the CIA gets to run around free doing whatever it wants.
That would be like a criminal being on trial for murder but being able to control the information the jury gets to see and hear. Maybe they saw a picture of some evidence (i.e. crime scene) but they weren't allowed to take it to review while deliberating and later were told it wasn't true. Whaaaat? Ultimately leading to the criminal getting off the hook and doing it all over again. (This may not be a perfect example.) No. We cannot stand for this.
Which is part of what led us to the current...well, I would say problem(s) we have now but the CIA and NSA might see it differently.
I am so tired of the line about how if you have nothing to hide intelligence agencies (whether domestic or foreign) collecting data on the masses isn't a problem. Sorry, what? Isn't a problem you say? You've got it all wrong. Is this how you want to lose your right to privacy? I'll be sure to remember that senator/congressman when it goes public that you have a mistress and you don't think there is anything wrong with that because your life partner is okay with you having an open relationship even though most of the people you represent may not have such an open-mind or be quite as accepting about how you conduct your personal life and may choose to vote you out of office the first chance they get without regarding to how well you are doing your job. You could be doing the best job in the world and that lack of privacy might come back to bite you in the backside.
Sorry, suddenly privacy is important?
Now I increasingly see it as a tool for nefarious purposes. The noble are outnumbered by the maleficent.
I really want to believe the that people are inherently good but then I read articles like this one that talk about the NSA having built the capability to capture all phone calls within the last thirty days for an entire country.
Yes, that's right.
All your phone calls are belong to us! (Sorry "all your base" guys but we're taking those too! (Sorry for the ancient internet meme reference. And for anyone who feels strongly about grammar abuses.))
That bears repeating.
All phone calls
in an entire COUNTRY
for the last thirty (30) days.
And yet we can't find one lost airplane.
But we know everything that was said in an entire country in the last month.
Can we solve world hunger?
Nope, we're too busy figuring out how to record all of the calls of an entire second country for the last month.
Hey, what about achieving world peace?
It'd be great if we could stop fighting. This whole business with Russia annexing Crimea would be a non-issue. Fighting in the Middle East? Syria? Done and over with. The war on terror and the war against drugs? We declared a winner and everybody lived happily ever after.
Oh, and bad news if you were a fan of crime, exciting as it could be rich with drama and strife. Television and movies may have to find other sources to draw upon to entertain future audiences. Maybe something a bit more...cerebral? In order to continue to encourage interest in fields that will continue to advance the human race? We can still have imaginative mindless (mm, well, there's a line between totally mindless and great imaginative/creative works) fun that will help inspire future generations.
Hey, you know what, eventually Earth is going to run out of space and resources. What if we could colonize our solar system and the stars beyond it?
Nah, we have plenty of time before we have to worry about over-taxing the Earth's natural resources. We'll worry about that later. Global warming? Poppycock, didn't you see the news? We had record snowfall this winter with more frequent and colder temperatures than in ages! There's nothing to worry about. (Sigh. How short-sighted...)
Why can't we apply the same level of focus and commitment of some the world's greatest minds to more important problems that actually are worth solving for instead of ones that don't need to be? If we managed world peace or could settle the stars so that those with conflicts could continue to expand while having their own place...wouldn't that be better than having to worry about terrorists? Mind you I feel like peace and harmony should be a requirement before branching out into the stars, as much as I'd love to see us colonize space because I don't want to see us fighting in the stars.
In this instance I would prefer a Star Trek-ish future compared to a Star Wars-ish future. Star Trek humanity has learned to live in peace with one another, mind you things may not be so great with some of the other galactic races but at least all humans manage to live in peace with one another. Things always seemed a bit iffy with the Klingons; they were at war with the Borg; and I thought they were at war with the Romulans, who had a tendency to come off as bullies.
Star Wars on the other hand had the Clone Wars (between Episodes II and III) and the old Galactic Republic crumbles and gives way to the Empire ruled by a single dictator who gave in to the dark side. With rebel infighting (by Episode IV) in order to recover capital and restore the galactic republic followed by fighting from the remaining survivors of the empire...is that somewhere you would want to live? Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle look as if they are barely living above the poverty level. The landspeeder Luke flies looks like the kind of car a teenager would end up with if given a budget of about a thousand dollars in the US. It's old, it doesn't look like much, and if you are lucky you bought something fairly reliable like a Honda Civic/Accord or a Toyota Corolla/Camry. Is that the kind of future you want to live in? While Star Wars might be more colourful and have more character than the Star Trek universe do you want to have to worry about having enough credits to afford to live? In the Star Trek universe most of your needs would be provided for. If you want to learn you could go to school and study without having to worry about how to afford it. If you want a job you could have one but working wouldn't be required. (Did I link to the article about the economy of Star Trek here in the last month? I should dig it up again, it was a quality read even if long. There, done.)
Today I got a chance to read the transcript of Senator Dianne Feinstein's statement and...wow. Now, I know this was about the CIA providing and then retracting information to the Intelligence Committee for an oversight investigation they were conducting and at one point in the transcript--as I recall it was a good ways in, maybe three quarters or more? Possibly the last/second to last paragraph: P.S. Next time, start with this. Your audience had very likely lost interest by the time you made the biggest most important point of all--she basically asks what the point of the oversight committee is if the CIA who is being investigated can control and manipulate records after they have been provided to the committee. What's the point of having checks and balances if they are defeated? Then the CIA gets to run around free doing whatever it wants.
That would be like a criminal being on trial for murder but being able to control the information the jury gets to see and hear. Maybe they saw a picture of some evidence (i.e. crime scene) but they weren't allowed to take it to review while deliberating and later were told it wasn't true. Whaaaat? Ultimately leading to the criminal getting off the hook and doing it all over again. (This may not be a perfect example.) No. We cannot stand for this.
Which is part of what led us to the current...well, I would say problem(s) we have now but the CIA and NSA might see it differently.
I am so tired of the line about how if you have nothing to hide intelligence agencies (whether domestic or foreign) collecting data on the masses isn't a problem. Sorry, what? Isn't a problem you say? You've got it all wrong. Is this how you want to lose your right to privacy? I'll be sure to remember that senator/congressman when it goes public that you have a mistress and you don't think there is anything wrong with that because your life partner is okay with you having an open relationship even though most of the people you represent may not have such an open-mind or be quite as accepting about how you conduct your personal life and may choose to vote you out of office the first chance they get without regarding to how well you are doing your job. You could be doing the best job in the world and that lack of privacy might come back to bite you in the backside.
Sorry, suddenly privacy is important?