www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/08/restoring_trust.html
Even President Obama's justifications and denials are phrased with the intent that the listener will take his words very literally and not wonder what they really mean.
helped stop more than 50 terrorist plots, 10 inside the US Do you believe him? We're not told whether these programs were instrumental in foiling the plots or whether they just happened to be of minor help because the data was there. It also depends on your definition of "terrorist plots."
examination of plots that that FBI claims to have foiled since 9/11 reveals that would-be terrorists have commonly been delusional, and most have been egged on by FBI undercover agents or informants. Left alone, few were likely to have accomplished much of anything. Both government agencies and corporations have cloaked themselves in so much secrecy that it's impossible to verify anything they say; revelation after revelation demonstrates that they've been lying to us regularly and tell the truth only when there's no alternative. Right now, the press has published only a tiny percentage of the documents Snowden took with him. And Snowden's files are only a tiny percentage of the number of secrets our government is keeping, awaiting the next whistle-blower. In a world where everyone lies to us all the time, we have no choice but to trust blindly, and we have no reason to believe that anyone is worthy of blind trust. it's just too much cognitive dissonance to try to cope with it.
Study after study demonstrates the value of living in a high-trust society and the costs of living in a low-trust one. Rebuilding trust is not easy, as anyone who has betrayed or been betrayed by a friend or lover knows, but the path involves transparency, oversight and accountability. Not a little bit at a time, not only when you have to, but complete disclosure about everything. No more secret rulings by secret courts about secret laws. No more secret programs whose costs and benefits remain hidden. Oversight involves meaningful constraints on the NSA, the FBI and others. This will be a combination of things: a court system that acts as a third-party advocate for the rule of law rather than a rubber-stamp organization, a legislature that understands what these organizations are doing and regularly debates requests for increased power, and vibrant public-sector watchdog groups that analyze and debate the government's actions. Accountability means that those who break the law, lie to Congress or deceive the American people are held accountable. The NSA has gone rogue, and while it's probably not possible to prosecute people for what they did under the enormous veil of secrecy it currently enjoys, we need to make it clear that this behavior will not be tolerated in the future. Accountability also means voting, which means voters need to know what our leaders are doing in our name. A market economy doesn't work unless consumers can make intelligent buying decisions based on accurate product information. That's why we have agencies like the FDA, truth-in-packaging laws and prohibitions against false advertising. In the same way, democracy can't work unless voters know what the government is doing in their name. Secret courts making secret rulings on secret laws, and companies flagrantly lying to consumers about the insecurity of their products and services, undermine the very foundations of our society. Since the Snowden documents became public, I have been receiving e-mails from people seeking advice on whom to trust. As a security and privacy expert, I'm expected to know which companies protect their users' privacy and which encryption programs the NSA can't break. I tell people that they have no choice but to decide whom they trust and to then trust them as a matter of faith. It's a lousy answer, but until our government starts down the path of regaining our trust, it's the only thing we can do.
August 7, 2013 7:38 AM " Accountability also means voting, which means voters need to know what our leaders are doing in our name." Not to go all Ralph Naderite on you, but for this to work, there has to be an actual choice that voters can make, rather than the current choice between "Lying + Drones" and "MOAR Lying + Drones + Torture" ("have you got anything without so much 'lying' in it?"
At least, that's what the linked article states (I have no idea or information regarding any kind of potential backdoor inside the Oulook application encryption functionality).
We have to realize that our Western ('free') democracies have turned into another form, where intelligence organisations are acting as state in a state. I really doubt if even Obama have the power to change this totalitarian behaviour. We still have elections and possibly we move from Democrats to Republicans, but in the end nothing will change as non of the administrations will have the power to stop NSA, FBI or what organisation else.
August 7, 2013 8:05 AM The thing is, what's being described here isn't really "trust", it's wanting to be aware of everything that's being done so you KNOW nothing bad is going on (ironic, given the topic). vibrant public-sector watchdog groups that analyze and debate the government's actions" seems like a pretty good way to make the government security agencies totally unable to do their jobs. Secrecy is a required part of what they do, which is why "trust" is so important. I'm not sure the best way to go about ensuring the existence of that trust, although there have been good suggestions elsewhere (adding a public advocate to FISA proceedings is an interesting one). But the suggestions being made here would seem to go way, way too far.
August 7, 2013 8:22 AM Democracy tself has been totally corrupted. Parties both agree on questions that can be asked in debates colluding with each other to avoid meaningful dialogue. Robocalls harass voters to give them the wrong voting address or time in hopes they won't show up. Only the party with the most money wins, meaning they get into office owing a huge group of lobbyists everything. Media is corrupted with them, since they are also for profit they need to tote the party line or are denied access to officials. The agencies operating with no civillian oversight and near unlimited resources will only get more and more corrupted by their own power they keep increasing in secret courts.
August 7, 2013 8:36 AM Voting doesn't do much good when all the candidates are lying. Obama railed against the Patriot Act provisions that allowed the secret collection of telephony data when he was a US Senator campaigning for president. As soon as he became president he worked to expand the very powers that he promised to curtail. Unless, of course, Bruce himself will run as an independent presidential candidate.
August 7, 2013 9:04 AM One of the costs of betrayal: at some point, people start distrusting categorically. of lying, but I still know they are because everybody lies.
August 7, 2013 9:05 AM Another side effect of the government being so deceitful is it gives conspiracy theorists and unscrupulous journalists much more ability to spread misinformation, and no one is the wiser.
net is a community network with more than 21,000 nodes that covers a vast geographic area. It is a relatively safe network to use because it is build and maintained by a community. The Free Network Foundation in the US also promotes the deployment of networks which are under the control of the people. If we cannot trust the state and the companies, we have to take the initiative and try to build communities that serve our needs. The Peer to Peer Foundation describe a new production models in which we collaborate with each other as peers. We also see very good results of the work by the community in Wikipedia. It is about changing our behaviour from "consumers" to "participants".
August 7, 2013 9:30 AM I guess this is just another lost cause Mr Paine. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for and he fought for them once. And in this world today of great hatred a man who knows that rule has a great trust. You know that rule Mr Paine and I loved you for it just as my father did. And you know that you fight h...
|
http://csua.com/feed/