[liberationtech] used to empower, not to oppress

[Shava Nerad]

http://guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/23/obama-crackdown-cyber-oppressors?cat=world&type=article

It was a good speech, but it made me feel frustrated because I know too much about our domestic measures in these directions.  It is a matter of scale I suppose, but how can we expect such statements to be taken seriously when the NSA wiretaps the Friends Service Committee?  NYC cops surveilling for muslims who change their use names online?  Or when the PATRIOT Act is intact with NSLs deployed daily? CALEA?  "Cyberwar" turning into, not a new security science, but a new MIC red scare hysteria cash cow, recession proofing paint for blacklining budgets? All of it?

Bah.  I am hardly convinced the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing in several of these cases.  Obama does not run the NYPD, no, but there are a few executive branch functions he could line up behind his stated principles there.

*sigh*
Shava

Sent from my iPhone so pardon the brevity/formatting!