Re: @John Smith ... NSA"Last year we proved <redacted> really did kill 20 US citizens at <redacted>
"The real crux of the issue is how well you can trust your government to protect you and not abuse the system."
TL:DR This is very long. For a reason. To make a point. If you really dont have the time to read this then I will leave you with this quote:
Government / people who dont care: "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear"
Me: "I have nothing to hide, from those I trust"
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Actually I prefer the government to get on running the country (when it concerns internal affairs) rather than trying to wrap me up in bubblewrap to protect me from grazes while siphoning off my data and (eventually) asking for keys to my house to keep me safe and unaware from bombs going off.
If a bomb goes off and I die, I dont want my last thoughts being "Damn you government for not keeping me safe". I'd be quite upset about being blown up (if I'm aware of it) and would prefer my last thoughts to be "I die because I am free". Yes. I'd rather they blow me up because they hate my freedom rather than threaten me with being blown up knowing that my government will make me less free.
I am a free person. I dont belong to the government. I am not a sheep to be reared and managed. I am not a resource or an asset that needs managing. Let the government regulate cars, bikes, shops. Not my life. I dont need it nor do I want it. I'm free and people died to get me this freedom.
Maybe more people may see it this way when the government eventually demands and get access to our homes.
If you have nothing to hide, why wouldn't you allow a cctv camera in each room and cupboard? Monitored by an AI algorithm and spot checked when flagged by humans. Only a criminal or a child/wife abuser would want to have the house as a private space where they can break the law. Cameras in every room, skeleton keys for every front door lock, to protect us from the hackers, to protect the children from Uncle David, to help crack down on copyright infringement.
They could enter homes for random spot checks at night, just in case you are abusing your child in the bathroom. Just in case you are growing certain banned plants. Just in case you are reading a banned book, or possess one. Those that resist are crazy conspiracy theorists. There is no argument for resistance! We have nothing to hide in our digital lives, so naturally not in our physical ones. If you do, you must be breaking the law somehow.
The locks on front doors keep other members of the public out. But they can offer a one size fits all skeleton key for any government official to gain entry. Surely these keys will only be held by the government. Never lost or copied. Never used by an ex husband/wife who works for the government to enter theoe ex's home to spy on them or obsessivly sniff their underwear.
It's just a matter of time. They argue for the skeleton key to the digital locks. They try to sell it. Many people fall for it and find no problem with it. How long till they demand the physical locks too? How effective will selling that be? Sell it to the kids first, at school. It worked in 1984.
Government / people who dont care: "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear"
Me: "I have nothing to hide, from those I trust"
To keep our freedom we must resist anything that threatens it. This is especially true of a government attempting to regulate your freedom or spy on you to protect you. Yes they are likley a well intentioned government right now doing a good job, but governments change all the time. The powers given now will be very hard to get back in the future should anyone even be aware they should get them back, having become used to the new status quo since they were in school and its just normal isnt it?