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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe NSA Has Taken the Beauty and Power of Digital Technology and Turned It Against Us
The NSA has taken the beauty and power of digital technology and turned it against usby Edward Snowden
What follows is the content of an email ACLU supporters received from Edward Snowden this morning, one year to the day since The Guardian broke the first in a series of revelations exposing the breathtaking scope of U.S. government surveillance.
Technology has been a liberating force in our lives. It allows us to create and share the experiences that make us human, effortlessly. But in secret, our very own governmentone bound by the Constitution and its Bill of Rightshas reverse-engineered something beautiful into a tool of mass surveillance and oppression. The government right now can easily monitor whom you call, whom you associate with, what you read, what you buy, and where you go online and offline, and they do it to all of us, all the time.
Today, our most intimate private records are being indiscriminately seized in secret, without regard for whether we are actually suspected of wrongdoing. When these capabilities fall into the wrong hands, they can destroy the very freedoms that technology should be nurturing, not extinguishing. Surveillance, without regard to the rule of law or our basic human dignity, creates societies that fear free expression and dissent, the very values that make America strong.
In the long, dark shadow cast by the security state, a free society cannot thrive.
"Surveillance, without regard to the rule of law or our basic human dignity, creates societies that fear free expression and dissent, the very values that make America strong."
That's why one year ago I brought evidence of these irresponsible activities to the public -- to spark the very discussion the U.S. government didn't want the American people to have. With every revelation, more and more light coursed through a National Security Agency that had grown too comfortable operating in the dark and without public consent. Soon incredible things began occurring that would have been unimaginable years ago. A federal judge in open court called an NSA mass surveillance program likely unconstitutional and "almost Orwellian." Congress and President Obama have called for an end to the dragnet collection of the intimate details of our lives. Today legislation to begin rolling back the surveillance state is moving in Congress after more than a decade of impasse.
I am humbled by our collective successes so far. When the Guardian and The Washington Post began reporting on the NSA's project to make privacy a thing of the past, I worried the risks I took to get the public the information it deserved would be met with collective indifference.
One year later, I realize that my fears were unwarranted.
Americans, like you, still believe the Constitution is the highest law of the land, which cannot be violated in secret in the name of a false security. Some say I'm a man without a country, but that's not true. America has always been an ideal, and though I'm far away, I've never felt as connected to it as I do now, watching the necessary debate unfold as I hoped it would. America, after all, is always at our fingertips; that is the power of the Internet.
But now it's time to keep the momentum for serious reform going so the conversation does not die prematurely.
Only then will we get the legislative reform that truly reins in the NSA and puts the government back in its constitutional place. Only then will we get the secure technologies we need to communicate without fear that silently in the background, our very own government is collecting, collating, and crunching the data that allows unelected bureaucrats to intrude into our most private spaces, analyzing our hopes and fears. Until then, every American who jealously guards their rights must do their best to engage in digital self-defense and proactively protect their electronic devices and communications. Every step we can take to secure ourselves from a government that no longer respects our privacy is a patriotic act.
We've come a long way, but there's more to be done.
Edward J. Snowden, American
© 2014 ACLU
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/06/05-5
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Trillo
(9,154 posts)At least lab rats get food and shelter. These leaks may be on purpose. When people know they're being watched, their behavior changes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect
jeff47
(26,549 posts)means it isn't happening. It's all the US's fault.
Uncle Joe
(58,107 posts)Thanks for the thread, KoKo.
gcomeau
(5,764 posts)...of the "US intelligence agencies engage in intelligence operation! Oh NOES!!! And Snowden is so dreamy for telling us all!" OP.
The Traveler
(5,632 posts)I worked in that world for over a decade. If you think this is normal, you are daft. If you think this is acceptable, you are mad as nails.
Already, American tech companies are suffering the consequences of this over reach. And that's what always happens when the intelligence services over reach ... there is always splatter, always damage to the service itself as well as other interests. I survived the post-COINTELPRO years ... I know this from first hand experience.
Intelligence is a necessary tool of strategy and state craft. When wielded like a blunt instrument, the mission is always eventually blown. In other words, this crap is not only constitutionally and ethically unsound ... it is in the long run bad for the intelligence service and damages the strategic interest of the nation. History has shown excesses of this magnitude will always be revealed ... you can blame Snowden, but if it wasn't him, it would have been someone else. One would think the intelligence community would have figured that out by now.
And none of your whining or regurgitation of talking points will outweigh my own experience. And I will challenge those kinds of expression whenever I encounter them.
Have a nice night, and give Agent Mike my regards. Oh. There's no need ... is there?
Trav
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Beautiful rebuttal to the garbage NSA talking points. Thanks for sharing your direct insight and experience.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)Strange feeling... what if?
WillyT
(72,631 posts)marions ghost
(19,841 posts)Thanks KoKo
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)I am humbled by our collective successes so far. When the Guardian and The Washington Post began reporting on the NSA's project to make privacy a thing of the past, I worried the risks I took to get the public the information it deserved would be met with collective indifference.
Its imperative that we keep the pressure on and keep the conversation going.
Thank you Edward Snowden.