but if what you're expecting is violence in the streets, if you're expecting a revolution like Syria - that's not going to happen.
No, absolutely not, violence would only set this issue back (imagine if the NSA now had a "valid" reason to target people, for inciting violence).
Most Americans are not aware of their freedoms having been eroded in any meaningful way.
People need to see that their freedoms have been eroded which is one of the major issues, which is why their needs to be peaceful assembly and people making noise so that the average American fully understands the extent of the NSA's breach of privacy and civil liberties.
that they will be rounded up by a government death squad because looking at Boing Boing pushed their XKeyScore rating past the red line.
Sure people aren't being rounded up by a government death squad, but tracking peoples every movements via phone and every single detail on their online personas is an incredible breach of privacy and civil liberties. It's only a matter of time until it escalates and you have to remove a weed before it takes hold in your garden, while it's still small enough to manage.
Most Americans don't care about this
Then it needs to become an issue that Americans care about by the people who do understand how terrible the actions of the NSA are (in this case, most HN readers)
but tracking peoples every movements via phone and every single detail on their online personas is an incredible breach of privacy and civil liberties.
I've argued with people about that. They typically say they have nothing to hide so they couldn't care less that the government was watching them. And then there are people inside programming circles who say this is just an inevitable part of the information age, and all governments do it, and we should simply learn to live with it.
On the other hand, there's an old man at my gym who on more than one occasion has told me that Obama and the Democrats are going to lead the US into some kind of Stalinist new world order (just wait and see.) This isn't even on many people's radar yet.
Then it needs to become an issue that Americans care about by the people who do understand how terrible the actions of the NSA are (in this case, most HN readers)
I agree with you entirely. It's a good fight to fight but.. I think it's going to take time before it stops becoming a 'fringe' issue for most Americans.
Comments
No, absolutely not, violence would only set this issue back (imagine if the NSA now had a "valid" reason to target people, for inciting violence).
People need to see that their freedoms have been eroded which is one of the major issues, which is why their needs to be peaceful assembly and people making noise so that the average American fully understands the extent of the NSA's breach of privacy and civil liberties.
Sure people aren't being rounded up by a government death squad, but tracking peoples every movements via phone and every single detail on their online personas is an incredible breach of privacy and civil liberties. It's only a matter of time until it escalates and you have to remove a weed before it takes hold in your garden, while it's still small enough to manage.
Then it needs to become an issue that Americans care about by the people who do understand how terrible the actions of the NSA are (in this case, most HN readers)
I've argued with people about that. They typically say they have nothing to hide so they couldn't care less that the government was watching them. And then there are people inside programming circles who say this is just an inevitable part of the information age, and all governments do it, and we should simply learn to live with it.
On the other hand, there's an old man at my gym who on more than one occasion has told me that Obama and the Democrats are going to lead the US into some kind of Stalinist new world order (just wait and see.) This isn't even on many people's radar yet.
I agree with you entirely. It's a good fight to fight but.. I think it's going to take time before it stops becoming a 'fringe' issue for most Americans.