If you talk about your dog online, the government gets to wiretap your 1-900 calls
Yeah, that’s the twisted logic the #2 intel official is using now:
Millions of people in this country — particularly young people — already have surrendered anonymity to social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, and to Internet commerce. These sites reveal to the public, government and corporations what was once closely guarded information, like personal statistics and credit card numbers.
“Those two generations younger than we are have a very different idea of what is essential privacy, what they would wish to protect about their lives and affairs. And so, it’s not for us to inflict one size fits all,” said Kerr, 68. “Protecting anonymity isn’t a fight that can be won. Anyone that’s typed in their name on Google understands that.”
“Our job now is to engage in a productive debate, which focuses on privacy as a component of appropriate levels of security and public safety,” Kerr said. “I think all of us have to really take stock of what we already are willing to give up, in terms of anonymity, but (also) what safeguards we want in place to be sure that giving that doesn’t empty our bank account or do something equally bad elsewhere.”
Yes, mustn’t ‘inflict’ privacy on anyone. Under that logic, in the pre-internet days, if you used a credit card or included any personal info in a letter to the editor or obituary, the gubmint shouldn’t impose unwiretapping on you. The problem is obviously further magnified today because of the propensity for Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri to list their favorite rock videos on MySpace and to reveal their moods on Facebook.
Plus there’s incontrovertible evidence that explosive YouTubes are being manufactured in Iran and smuggled into Iraq to damage US sooldiers’ musical tastes.
November 11th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
[…] Official Notice: Your privacy is now a subsidiary of security. “Our job now is to engage in a productive debate, which focuses on privacy as a component of appropriate levels of security and public safety,” [Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence] said. “I think all of us have to really take stock of what we already are willing to give up, in terms of anonymity . . “ […]