Government has the Right to Spy on Everyone

[UniversalAlien]

Government has the Right to Spy on Everyone No, I do not work for nor do I have any involvement with any agencies of government. That said, how can I make a statement giving government carte blanche to spy on people?

First, in the digital age almost everything you say of do is being recorded anyway - there is no privacy on the internet and it is a fools delusion to believe you can communicate privately. So if whatever you say or do is open to scrutiny anyway, why
keep this spying in the hands of private interests who can use it to manipulate and control you anyway? - With government I know that a legal entiry is doing the spying - someone working for the people {at least in theory} is spying for my protection
- protection from criminals and terrorists for example.

So why, unless I am engaged in criminal activities, should I be concerned with government spying? - And am I not better off
if the spies are operating legitimately, and have to answer to the rule of law?


"We are moving rapidly into a world in which the spying machinery is built into every object we encounter."-
Howard Rheingold

[pinto]

'Criminal activity' is pretty subjective. Homosexuality used to be a 'criminal activity'. Only idiots trust politicians.

[Philosophy Explorer]

Government has the Right to Spy on Everyone No, I do not work for nor do I have any involvement with any agencies of government. That said, how can I make a statement giving government carte blanche to spy on people?

First, in the digital age almost everything you say of do is being recorded anyway - there is no privacy on the internet and it is a fools delusion to believe you can communicate privately. So if whatever you say or do is open to scrutiny anyway, why
keep this spying in the hands of private interests who can use it to manipulate and control you anyway? - With government I know that a legal entiry is doing the spying - someone working for the people {at least in theory} is spying for my protection
- protection from criminals and terrorists for example.

So why, unless I am engaged in criminal activities, should I be concerned with government spying? - And am I not better off
if the spies are operating legitimately, and have to answer to the rule of law?


"We are moving rapidly into a world in which the spying machinery is built into every object we encounter."-
Howard Rheingold

Reminds me of Spy vs Spy vs Spy.

PhilX

[UniversalAlien]

Reminds me of Spy vs Spy vs Spy.

PhilX

Exactly - The moment you sign on the internet, no mater what they say about 'privacy' settings, you are being spied on,
And this thing about the NSA monitoring phone calls, are they serious? - Everything is going through computer equipment and whether people like it or not 'they' are not going to turn it off - 'The Machine' is watching everyone - And for my money I would rather know the truth then to live in a fools delusion.

Look you could join a religious cult like the Amish that don't allow electronic equipment in their homes and avoid electronic spying - But you could be sure the 'elders' are always watching you there - Old fashioned Human spying.

A few years ago they were making a big deal about local government putting up cameras on light poles to stop crime
- And a talk show radio host was screaming about government spying - But if you have ever lived in a bad neighborhood with a lot of street crime - you would want any protection you could get - Unless of course you were one of the street criminals.

I sympathise with the view that giving government too much power also caters to abuse - And that is why I say the spying should be legal and regulated by law - Legally the spies could be required to answer for their actions, but if you make the spying illegal - they will do it anyway and the abuse will be worse.

"Have you noticed the people most likely to be up in arms about governments apparently spying on us tend to be the most non-private people you know? The people launching petitions and wailing about Big Brother and data collection are most likely to be the most constant self-presenters."-
Russell Smith

[SpheresOfBalance]

Government has the Right to Spy on Everyone No, I do not work for nor do I have any involvement with any agencies of government. That said, how can I make a statement giving government carte blanche to spy on people?

First, in the digital age almost everything you say of do is being recorded anyway - there is no privacy on the internet and it is a fools delusion to believe you can communicate privately. So if whatever you say or do is open to scrutiny anyway, why
keep this spying in the hands of private interests who can use it to manipulate and control you anyway? - With government I know that a legal entiry is doing the spying - someone working for the people {at least in theory} is spying for my protection
- protection from criminals and terrorists for example.

So why, unless I am engaged in criminal activities, should I be concerned with government spying? - And am I not better off
if the spies are operating legitimately, and have to answer to the rule of law?


"We are moving rapidly into a world in which the spying machinery is built into every object we encounter."-
Howard Rheingold

Universally there are no such things as rights. Some groups of humans created the concept supposedly so that things are fair for everyone, but actually so their lives were free of possible entanglements created by others. Rights were/are 'selfishly' conceived, instituted and defended. Likewise the abolishment of those rights are 'selfishly' conceived and pushed. Fear, being the reason for it all. The only sound argument for the abolishment of the right to privacy would be that there were never people burned as witches, that no one has ever, in the history of man, been falsely accused and punished/killed for it.

If every human were 100% identical with respect to knowledge, mental capability, understanding, compassion and mainly, the lack of fear, then we could all afford to be transparently clear, as we'd already understand one another, and various misinformed preconceptions would not be aimed at another due to fearful selfish irrationality dubbed as reasoning.

[UniversalAlien]

Philosophy Explorer wrote:
Reminds me of Spy vs Spy vs Spy.
PhilX

Again, absolutely true - Google keeps prompting me to check my 'privacy settings' even though I already have them set - And then while on the Firefox browser while set on 'Do Not Track', sure enough I get a message on how to not be tracked by Google?!?! - Forget about government - Government has to live in fear of Google Forget about 'Big Brother is Watching You'
In the 21st Century Google is watching you ! Government spies, for the most part, are the least of your concern.

On the other hand they tell me they could actually use equipment to look into your private residence and see what you are doing - That does sound like an invasion of privacy - But what if there is a psycho loose in your neighborhood? Would you want to maintain your privacy at the cost of your life?

So what I'm saying is let them spy away BUT keep it above board - We should insist that the spies must still have justification
for what they are doing - And yes, maybe there should be spies watching the spies.

In the end it probably won't matter anyway - It all we be controled by Google

You basically have a group of four spies who are chosen for a mission they feel for the fact of how competent they are and how their expertise and they're the right one for the job. But ultimately they find out they've been actually chosen for their incompetence.
-Matt LeBlanc

Ghostery lets you spy on the spies in your computer. For each web page you visit, this extension uncloaks some - but not all - of the invisible tracking software that is working behind the scenes.
-Barton Gellman