"A Society Under Surveillance Is No Longer a Democracy"

[marmar]

MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT


Last week, the Guardian UK reported that 500 authors, including five Noble Prize winners, signed a manifesto calling for a curtailing of the emergence of surveillance states, led by the US:

A person under surveillance is no longer free; a society under surveillance is no longer a democracy. To maintain any validity, our democratic rights must apply in virtual as in real space.

What could be a more fundamental right than the ability to think and express oneself freely, without the state gathering a digital mountain of our private lives?

It's no coincidence that the Guardian UK broke the Edward Snowden revelations about he NSA, which confirmed the worst fears about the extent to which the US government has been spying without any significant restrictions -- and casting an extremely wide net that went way beyond what might be needed for national security interests.

A British author, Jeanette Winterson, signed the author's declaration, stating:

We have had no debate, no vote, no say, hardly any information about how our data is used and for what purpose. Our mobile phones have become tracking devices. Social networking is data profiling. We can't shop, spend, browse, email, without being monitored. We might as well be tagged prisoners. Privacy is an illusion. Do you mind about that? I do.

In fact, the UK has a special role to play in the US surveillance state, due to its longterm cooperation with America in electronic communication and data program extending back to the Cold War ECHELON project (which still exists in an expanded role). The touting of ECHELON as a national security necessity was severely tarnished when it was revealed that it was often used for high-level industrial espionage that would favor US companies. .......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18372-a-society-under-surveillance-is-no-longer-a-democracy

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. It's not even a good facsimile. K&R