Seder: This Generation Needs New Privacy Laws

[GoLeft TV]

Two weeks ago, President Obama gave a speech where he attempted to explain domestic spying operations, and why it is necessary to combat terrorism. But what he didn’t address during that speech was the need for stronger protections for American citizens to ensure that our rights are not violated. Ring of Fire’s Sam Seder discusses why this is a very important aspect of counter-terrorism efforts with David Cole, legal affairs correspondent for The Nation.

Pt. 1:

Pt. 2:

More at Ring of Fire.

[frazzled]

1. And also, this generation needs to think about how they use privacy themselves

Sorry, I haven't watched the 2 videos yet (will do so, but am just taking a break while the dinner is cooking now), but I've been thinking about this a lot over the past several years.

I'm a very private person, so while I have a Facebook account and check maybe once a day what nieces, nephews, and occasional friends are up to, I never post anything myself. I avoid "liking" things, and I get a little creeped out by commercial intrusion I see on my computer screen. I often wonder what my younger friends and family are going to think about the public trail they're willingly leaving behind, and also wonder why they're less concerned about the daily commercial and tech haunting of their digital personas than they are about the NSA. I think both are of equal concern.

Then the other day I saw this story in the Chicago Tribune that bowled me over:

Mike Seay and his wife have been mourning the loss of their daughter, Ashley, for just under a year. On Thursday, they received an unwelcome reminder of her untimely death in the mail.

It was an OfficeMax flier addressed to Ashley's father: "Mike Seay, Daughter Killed In Car Crash."

Seay's 17-year-old daughter died in a car wreck with her boyfriend last February. And somehow, in a business world where personal data is mined and sold to corporations, Seay and his family appear to have become the victims of marketing gone terribly wrong.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-officemax-mail-grieving-father-biz-0121-20140121,0,6213076,full.story

Really? Does this not creep everyone out, that some marketing company is tracking information like this and apparently keeping it in its files ... the better to sell you stuff? It was an accidental peek inside the lengths to which modern-day marketing has gone. I realize anyone can read the paper and call to sell you a casket or whatever. But why does Office Max need to know the personal details of your life?

Okay, back to dinner and I'll watch the videos later.

[20score]

2. Very good interview. Question: Is it wrong to despise those mouth-breathing, reactionary, moronic,

anti-freedom, Dick Cheney-like, authoritarian assholes who defend the ubiquitous spying, because ‘their guy’ is doing the wrong thing?

Answer: No, no it's not. It’s the right thing to do.

[adirondacker]

3. K&R.