
First they came for the Whistleblowers, and I did not speak out - rberger
http://blog.ibd.com/how-the-world-works/first-they-came-for-the-whistleblowers-and-i-did-not-speak-out/
======
socrates1998
I think most people feel powerless, either financially or technically.

Many people I know think what the NSA is doing is completely wrong, but they
have problems logging into facebook and getting their email to work, they just
feel powerless because they don't understand the technology behind the world
they live in.

How can they stand up to something they can't even begin to comprehend?

The NSA could literally do anything they wanted to most people and they
wouldn't even know about it.

And then we have a much smaller group of people in the tech industry (most
people who frequent Hacker News), who know what the NSA is doing is horribly
horribly wrong, but are afraid of being destroyed financially, socially, and
professionally for standing up to them.

It feels like swimming up a waterfall. The NSA can so easily ruin lives by
planting illegal material on your computer, then tip off the local cops who
get a search warrant, then they seize your computer and find the illegal
material on your computer.

And you life is ruined.

I mean, they are so powerful technologically speaking, they can ruin lives
without so much as lifting a finger.

It's very scary and very real.

~~~
Riseed
I agree, but wanted to add:

For many people, law enforcement doesn't even have to bother planting illegal
material. They only have to twist the description of a target's behavior until
it fits the requirements for violating a law (e.g. CFAA[1]), or catch the
target committing any of the other federal crimes[2] he/she unknowingly
commits on a regular basis.

[1] Wikipedia:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act)
or EFF:
[https://ilt.eff.org/index.php/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act_%...](https://ilt.eff.org/index.php/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act_%28CFAA%29)

[2] The many failed efforts to count nation's federal criminal laws:
[http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230431980...](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304319804576389601079728920)

------
sage_joch
The Snowden documents revealed that Germans visiting the Tor project website
would be subject to permanent NSA surveillance. Does that make you more or
less likely to click the link below? If the answer is "less likely", how does
it feel to be intimidated out of your free expression?

[https://www.torproject.org/](https://www.torproject.org/)

~~~
n09n
How is clicking on a link to a project you have no interest in "free
expression"?

~~~
drcode
"I can click on it any time I want, I just choose not to."

~~~
n09n
And whether you do or not, how is that expressing yourself? Are you expressing
yourself when you brush your teeth or take a piss in the morning too?

------
vitno
Site is down for me. Text:

By Robert J Berger, on July 5th, 2014

First they came for the Whistleblowers, and I did not speak out— Because I was
not a Whistleblower.

Then they came for the Boing Boing Readers, and I did not speak out— Because I
was not a Boing Boing Reader.

Then they came for the Linux Users, and I did not speak out— Because I was not
a Linux User.

Then they came for people who mocked the NSA, and I did not speak out— Because
I was not mocking the NSA.

Then they came for the Jews (they always eventually come for the Jews even
when Jews think they are mainstream), and I did not speak out— Because I was
not a Jew.

Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak for me.

------
chx
There's a bigger problem today: I _did_ speak out. Perhaps you did too. You
tweeted, retweeted, commented, blogged etc. Noone cared. What now?

~~~
Taek
"Like this post if you pray for cancer victims"

I would like to suggest that voting provides a way out. If the NSA had a
smaller budget, things might be better. If every branch of our military had a
smaller budget, things might be better. Congressmen do listen to us, and if
collectively we spoke against the military, there might be success.

Honestly I have no idea how to fight politically. I think we all feel
powerless. But there are some things you can do. You can run a tor relay node.
You can learn about these technologies and help development efforts. You can
participate with Freenode and I2P. You can encrypt all of your connections
end-to-end and avoid services that are known to cooperate with 3 letter
agencies.

But no matter what angle you pick, you're going to be fighting up hill. It's
going to suck, and you aren't going to feel like you're making any progress on
your own. But if enough of us rally behind the technologies that protect our
rights as human beings, then maybe we can reverse the tide.

~~~
smacktoward
I would tend to agree, but voting is just the first rung of what you might
think of as a _ladder of commitment_ :

Voting Organizing others Donating money to fund full-time campaigners
Volunteering for leadership positions/running for office

Each step on the ladder requires more commitment, and will therefore be taken
by fewer people. But to succeed, a movement needs all of them.

If you vote, and nothing changes, and you're asking what comes next, maybe
you're ready to move to the next rung. Start a meetup in your community. Give
to the EFF or the ACLU. Run for office yourself, or identify a good person who
should be running and help them do so.

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jmadsen
Cached:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:i-hXFA0...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:i-hXFA0yGi0J:blog.ibd.com/how-
the-world-works/first-they-came-for-the-whistleblowers-and-i-did-not-speak-
out/)

------
js2
In case someone doesn't know the reference:

[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_...](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_...).

------
thekingshorses
Cached:

[http://hn.premii.com/#/article/7993426/first-they-came-
for-t...](http://hn.premii.com/#/article/7993426/first-they-came-for-the-
whistleblowers-and-i-did-not-speak-out)

------
transfire
The second to last line betrays a misunderstanding of the current order of
things. (Unless the writer thinks it is the Muslims or the KKK that are coming
for us.) Jews in general are no longer the victims.

~~~
amjaeger
This is a poem from the holocaust

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not
a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not
speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one
left to speak for me

------
bithive123
I should not need to remind this crowd but if anyone feels doubt over what can
and must be done, simply search YouTube for "Eben Moglen"; you can't go wrong.

------
jaekwon
There is always a counter movement. It's going on right now, but for obvious
reasons they don't make themselves known. Find each other.

------
paulhauggis
Look at all of the people that have gotten fired (or lost their careers) for
things they said or did in their private time over the past year.

The firings were brought on by mob mentality on Twitter and Facebook with no
judge or jury. All to silence opposing view points.

If such behavior is accepted as normal, why is it any surprise that our
government is doing the same thing..and worse?

Big brother is here, and it's us. I'm glad I learned early on to stay
anonymous on the Internet.

