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• Thursday, October 9, 2008 08:47 AM

  Data Mining and Preserving Data

  "I’m disappointed I guess that perhaps the default response for some is to assume the worst. I’m trying to communicate to you that the people who are doing this, okay, go shopping in Glen Burnie and their kids play soccer in Laurel, and they know the law. They know American privacy better than the average American, and they’re dedicated to it. So I guess the message I’d ask you to take back to your communities is the same one I take back to mine. This is focused. It’s targeted. It’s very carefully done. You shouldn’t worry."

  "That was the attitude of the political and media establishment for years — our Government Leaders are Good and want only what is Good for us, and need not have their powers questioned, checked, or limited. These are just the revelations of two low-level independent whistle-blowers. Just contemplate what we learn — years or decades from now — the Bush administration was doing as we collectively decided that they could seize and exercise powers, even illegally, and exercise it without limits."

  These excerpts sum up the mind-think behind these surveillance initiatives. Gather enormous files on anyone so the world knows that we can and do- always buttressed because our security is the end all. We are assured that the surveillance state is always benign. It has no political motivation, would never use this massive power to undermine campaigns/elections nor threaten our very democracy.

  —behindthecurtain Read behindthecurtain's other letters
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