Big Brother is Watching You

[O Really]

If I were in charge, I'd have instances of "cops behaving badly" investigated by a team of trained civilian investigators, who would not be a part of the city/county/state government nor political appointees. That way maybe we could get police conduct judged against some "community standard" rather than against the "thin blue line." But I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

[O Really]

Think you can live offline without being tracked? Here's what it takes...
http://www.fastcompany.com/3019847/thin ... t-it-takes

And, don't be politically active in any way, especially with a perspective that might be considered fringe. But, that may be the point.

I learned a lot from that article - some surprising. Who woulda thunk there are RFIDs in tires? But at the end of the day you have to figure that if it really were all that easy to track everybody, and all that difficult to hide, that there would not be any more missing people, "most wanteds", deadbeat dads, or ghostly gang-bangers. So from a practical standpoint, I guess we have to give the author props for paranoia and rolled eye for realism.

[Cannonpointer]

Think you can live offline without being tracked? Here's what it takes...
http://www.fastcompany.com/3019847/thin ... t-it-takes

And, don't be politically active in any way, especially with a perspective that might be considered fringe. But, that may be the point.

I learned a lot from that article - some surprising. Who woulda thunk there are RFIDs in tires? But at the end of the day you have to figure that if it really were all that easy to track everybody, and all that difficult to hide, that there would not be any more missing people, "most wanteds", deadbeat dads, or ghostly gang-bangers. So from a practical standpoint, I guess we have to give the author props for paranoia and rolled eye for realism.

I think you misread the meaning of all this.

The purpose of data mining, for example, is NOT to know what you are up to. Not at all.

Its to be ABLE TO FIND OUT, if they decide they WANT to know. The fact that most fugitives don't warrant the expense in time and money to use every gadget available to track them down does NOT mean those gadgets don't exist or could not do the job, if employed. It just means most fugitives aren't worth pursuing.

There's a verse in a Willy Nelson song about Pancho Villa:

The old time Federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him go so long
Out of kindness, I suppose.

I think that song comments on the idea that the Mexican Feds found Villa useful as a magnet to attract, and a tool to identify, those with revolutionary zeal. In effect, they used him for containment - a political lymph system, if you will.

Just because they're not looking at the movie of your life, that does not mean they don't have it on their shelf, for their viewing pleasure, any time they choose.

If my assessment is correct - and I believe it is, - then the trick is to not be worth noticing.

[rstrong]

It's hard to live on the run anymore, it becomes your job. People that forget that for a moment get caught, even after decades. That's why some turn themselves in knowing it'll mean prison. Many of the ones not caught are because their infractions aren't serious enough for anyone to invest time, money and effort into looking. Of course, universal snooping and automation do and will make that easier.

Yup. Canada's only successful hijacking was in 1971. They American hijacker spent eight months in a Cuban jail, and then worked in Cuba, then moved to Tanzania. But eventually he made his way back to New York.

And one day in 2001 a police office in Toronto looked him up on Google and found him. He was put into a call in Manhattan to await extradition.

New York Times: Traced on Internet, Teacher Is Charged In '71 Jet Hijacking

Note the story date: September 11, 2001. It's likely the airplane hijacker was and tossed into the Manhattan holding cell on 9/10. This could very well be the worst combination of wrong place and bad timing in recorded history.

[O Really]

Let's get down to what they're really mad about...

"The magnitude of the eavesdropping is what shocked us," former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a radio interview. "Let’s be honest, we eavesdrop, too. Everyone is listening to everyone else. But we don’t have the same means as the United States, which makes us jealous."

[O Really]

The purpose of data mining, for example, is NOT to know what you are up to. Not at all.

Its to be ABLE TO FIND OUT, if they decide they WANT to know. .

I don't know why that makes any sense. They don't have to do that - they could just use the "Predict-A-Criminal" app from the PlayStore. Sends a daily list to your phone of people who are going to commit crimes.

(loved the Willie reference, BTW)

[rstrong]

"No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks."
- Article 12 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

"Even the Four Horsemen of Kidporn, Dope Dealers, Mafia and Terrorists don't worry me as much as totalitarian governments. It's been a long century, and we've had enough of them."
- Bruce Sterling, on cryptography

"The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom."
- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas 1952, Public Utilities Commission v Pollak

"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."
- Voltaire

[rstrong]

A man in Oregon was arrested for growing marijuana after police using Google Earth found the crop. Turns out those crazy conspiracy theorists who think the government is watching you with satellites from space, were right.

[O Really]

Surely you recognize the sound of "harummph" when you hear it

[rstrong]

I have an acquaintance or two in the intelligence community, and while they don't talk about their work, one thing they do rant about is Chinese electronic spying. Phones that turn themselves on when a Chinese delegation is nearby, etc. To the point where a Canadian trade delegation that unexpectedly found itself in the same American hotel as a Chinese delegation, was ordered to immediately hand in their laptops for destruction.

One thing they mention is Chinese-made consumer electronics that occasionally - one in every few thousand of a given model - has spying devices built-in.

Apparently the Russians just found home appliances with "spy" microchips capable of spreading malware to wi-fi enabled devices within 200 meters.

[bannination]

Another sound:

NSA official: 'We're really screwed now'

..."We're really screwed now," the official said. "You know things are bad when the few friends you've got disappear without a trace in the dead of night and leave no forwarding address."

Feinstein called for a "major review into all intelligence collection programs."

“It is abundantly clear that a total review of all intelligence programs is necessary so that members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are fully informed as to what is actually being carried out by the intelligence community," Feinstein said. “Unlike NSA’s collection of phone records under a court order, it is clear to me that certain surveillance activities have been in effect for more than a decade and that the Senate Intelligence Committee was not satisfactorily informed."

She added that "Congress needs to know exactly what our intelligence community is doing.”

Feinstein is not alone. Arizona Sen. John McCain is calling for a select committee to review the U.S. spy program.

"We have always eavesdropped on people around the world," McCain said Monday. "But the advance of technology has given us enormous capabilities, and I think you might make an argument that some of this capability has been very offensive both to us and to our allies."

Meanwhile, stronger opponents of the surveillance program in the House are expected to unveil the "USA Freedom Act," a bipartisan bill that would limit the NSA's bulk data collection. A similar bill is expected to be introduced by Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy in the Senate...

I so hope we're at a turning point.....I feel so bad for people that stood on their principles and shut their businesses down because of this crap.

[indago]

[O Really]

So, it's not unreasonable to suppose that his motivations were patriotic, at least in part.

And not unreasonable to suppose differently?

[bannination]

[O Really]

So - Boeing appears to be expanding its work in North Charleston, to include a new plane. Boeing employee discovers that Boeing is treating union employees badly, albeit legally, and publicly discloses information that eventually causes a loss of the contract for the plane, including the loss of the potential economic value to North Charleston. He's damaged Boeing, and he's damaged North Charleston, but in a narrow sense, he was correct. Union employees were in fact treated badly, but now they have no jobs. Is he angel or devil?

[neoplacebo]

There's nothing like being treated badly legally, and it can take many forms. Watch out.

[Boatrocker]

So - Boeing appears to be expanding its work in North Charleston, to include a new plane. Boeing employee discovers that Boeing is treating union employees badly, albeit legally, and publicly discloses information that eventually causes a loss of the contract for the plane, including the loss of the potential economic value to North Charleston. He's damaged Boeing, and he's damaged North Charleston, but in a narrow sense, he was correct. Union employees were in fact treated badly, but now they have no jobs. Is he angel or devil?

I say he's an angel, but I ain't a Boeing employee.
Lincoln, the Civil War and the 13th Amendment freed the slaves, leaving many of them worse off than before. Was that better or worse? Philosophical questions often have no "right" answer.

[O Really]

Lincoln, the Civil War and the 13th Amendment freed the slaves, leaving many of them worse off than before. Was that better or worse? Philosophical questions often have no "right" answer.

Buh-buh-but, the Wah of Nawthn Aggravation weren't about slavery. Don't you know that?

Past that, however, Lincoln was legally entitled to issue the Emancipation Proclamation (though enforcement might have been a bit tricky) and the 13th Amendment is a Constitutional Amendment. Not exactly the same as theft and disclosure of documents or de-railing a company and local economy because of philosophical differences. Obviously the guy in my hypothetical could be seen as angel by some, devil by some, but he's taking upon himself the interests of the union employees, the company including the non-union employees, and the Charleston area population. It's not clear at all whether he is acting in any of those groups' best interest.

[rstrong]

Frankly I don't believe the premise.

It's been shown time and again that massive layoffs INCREASE stock prices. I highly doubt that "publicly disclosing information" that a company is "treating union employees badly, albeit legally" will cause them to lose a contract. It sounds like a convenient way for the company to blame someone else.

[O Really]

In the big picture, angel. Some workers somewhere will build the planes there's a demand for and a bad boss got slapped.

It's a hypothetical, but based on a version of real events. Speaking only of the real event part, you may recall that I supported the union's protest of work taken from them in Seattle, as well as the NLRB's decision. But although there were indeed some bosses slapped, ultimately planes are being built in Charleston and Seattle, and union members didn't lose jobs. Nobody ever claimed that Boeing could not legally open a new plant in SC - the problem there was like many instances where the action was OK, but the reason was not.

Now let's move to the hypothetical. My guy's actions, outside of the normal process of negotiation and NLRB litigation, causes a loss of a contract by Boeing, resulting in a major economic impact in Charleston. How bad would the bosses have to be for that result to be a fair and reasonable slapping?