US drone industry: Nothing to hide - nothing to fear

[The Northerner]

A staple of America's wars abroad, unmanned drones might soon be used to spy on the country's own citizens. By 2015, the computer-controlled jets will have access to airspace usually reserved for piloted planes. A director from a US drone training company supporting their increased use says that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.

Trevor Timm, an activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says that argument no longer holds water.

[malthaussen]

1. Night of Camp David

It's amazing to me... back in the early 60's, Fletcher Knebel wrote a novel in which the protagonist begins to fear that the POTUS is insane. One of the first things that causes the protagonist to doubt the POTUS's sanity is when the POTUS uses this exact argument to justify unlimited wiretapping.

My, my, how times change... from "proof of insanity" to "now out of date" argument.

-- Mal

[randr]

2. I have a constitutuional right to hide whatever I want to.

It is called my private life.

[reeds2012]

3. with every passing administration, it seems we have less and less of a private life.

Your choices at airports these days are getting microwaved or groped by TSA agents.

Land of the free, home of the brave.

[cyberpj]

4. THE LAST ENEMY -5 ep Masterpiece Contemporary. Just downloaded this from Netflix

and husband and I finished watching it last night.

You'd think it was science fiction if you didn't already know better
and it fits perfectly into the 'nothing to hide / nothing to fear -
- let Big Brother watch you to take care of you category.

Stephen Ezard (Benedict Cumberbatch, Atonement) returns to London to mourn the loss of his brother, Michael, and enters a society now obsessed with surveillance. Searching to make sense of Michael's death, Stephen uncovers secrets about his brother's life — including a wife he never knew Michael had. Taking a government job to trace leads through a powerful new database, Stephen exposes troubling revelations and soon finds himself stalked by a rogue agent (Robert Carlyle, The Full Monty). But when Stephen stumbles into an international conspiracy, he realizes that the omnipresent and menacing eye of the government has turned on him. Scripted by Peter Berry (Prime Suspect 6), The Last Enemy offers a frenetic ride through the paranoia and politics of a futuristic surveillance society.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/lastenemy/index.html