In yet another expose that shows that certain supposedly democratic governments really have almost zero tolerance for real dissent we have the latest from the Snowden files. More proof that governments really could not give a shit about our freedoms.
GCHQ captured emails of journalists from top international media -
In today's outrage de jour we have the UK government collecting and storing journalistic communications with absolutely no regard for freedom of the press.
GCHQ’s bulk surveillance of electronic communications has scooped up emails to and from journalists working for some of the US and UK’s largest media organisations, analysis of documents released by whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals.
Emails from the BBC, Reuters, the Guardian, the New York Times, Le Monde, the Sun, NBC and the Washington Post were saved by GCHQ and shared on the agency’s intranet as part of a test exercise by the signals intelligence agency.
As bad as that is it is not in my mind the most troubling aspect of the story.
Internal security advice shared among the intelligence agencies was often as preoccupied with the activities of journalists as with more conventional threats such as foreign intelligence, hackers or criminals.
One restricted document intended for those in army intelligence warned that “journalists and reporters representing all types of news media represent a potential threat to security”.
It continued: “Of specific concern are ‘investigative journalists’ who specialise in defence-related exposés either for profit or what they deem to be of the public interest.
Did you get that. We have AGAIN the authorities more concerned with stifling dissent or any attempt at transparency than with any real effort to improve society.
To see the constant drumbeat of fear, the continued effort by supposedly democratic regimes to use every small incident as a pretext for more control and more restrictions on freedom is so bloody frustrating. Yet the majority sit cowed willing to trade their privacy and freedoms for well ... nothing.
Or this - The Digital Arms Race: NSA Preps America for Future Battle
Intelligence agencies have adopted "plausible deniability" as their guiding principle for Internet operations. To ensure their ability to do so, they seek to make it impossible to trace the author of the attack.
It's a stunning approach with which the digital spies deliberately undermine the very foundations of the rule of law around the globe. This approach threatens to transform the Internet into a lawless zone in which superpowers and their secret services operate according to their own whims with very few ways to hold them accountable for their actions.
The things you really need to be scared of are not what you see on the news. They are not terrorists, nor ISIS, nor muslims, nor ...
Almost 100 Americans are killed every day by guns, almost 100 a day by car accidents, more than 100 a day by the flu. Yes the flu kills more people every month than died on 9/11. Watch out for your neighbor, or your loved one, or ... - they are more likely to kill you than any terrorist.
Obama continues to be a massive disappointment (Cameron you kind of expect), continuing to prosecute those who would enlighten us and refusing to prosecute the real criminals out there, the ones that really hurt national security (torturers, bankers, NSA goons),
Rant over. It's only Monday.