

Lawsuit Against NSA Warrantless Wiretapping Heads to Supreme Court - mtgx
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/09/18/lawsuit-against-nsa-warrantless-wiretapping-headed-to-supreme-court/

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ericdykstra
This needs to get struck down. It may be cliché to liken the US government to
Big Brother, but I'm in the middle of reading _1984_ for the first time, and
the parallels are eerily similar.

Imagine a government that can see everything you do on your phones or on the
internet (as discussed in linked article), that has 10s of thousands of
drones[1] flying around the country the size of mosquitos, each equipped with
advanced facial recognition software.[2] Oh yeah, and the government is
willing to kill you, a US citizen, without trial if you say the wrong
things.[3]

It may not be telescreens and memory holes, but Orwell was pretty close on the
ubiquity of government eyes and the ruthlessness against those who dissent.

1\. [http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57409759/drone-use-
in...](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57409759/drone-use-in-
the-u.s-raises-privacy-concerns/)

2\. [http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/135665-fbi-
launches-1-bil...](http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/135665-fbi-
launches-1-billion-nationwide-facial-recognition-system)

3\.
[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/nov/24/killing...](http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/nov/24/killing-
our-citizens-without-trial/?pagination=false)

~~~
crazypyro
On the topic of dystopian literature, I feel like its actually more similar to
Brave New World. People are simply content, ignorant or just don't think it
affects them. They are so distracted by all the other stuff (mostly stuff that
could affect them dramatically less) in our society that they let it happen.
It is not like this information is completely hidden.

Try talking to your parents or friends that are "not into politics" about this
stuff. People generally don't care, don't know, or don't think it will happen
to them. The government wouldn't do something so bad, in their minds.

This is just my personal opinion and experiences on the subject.

~~~
malandrew
relevant:

"Huxley was right"

[http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/images/Amusin...](http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/images/Amusing-
Ourselves-To-Death.jpg)

~~~
beedogs
The reality is that it's a terrifying mixture of the worst of both worlds.

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DamnYuppie
I would love to see the Supreme Court actually stand up for the Constitution
and strike down this law. It is my opinion that, as of late, they seem to be
more pro-government which is very chilling in and of itself.

~~~
mindslight
Why would Supreme Court categorically rule out dragnet snooping by USG, when
the worst that can happen is someone later suffers harm, at which point
Supreme Court will see another case and develop rules to limit that specific
harm?

I certainly agree with you that the world would be a better place if privacy
were commonplace. I just think we should be realistic as to what we're up
against.

~~~
dantheman
Because it's an unreasonable search, no need for harm.

