
Nothing to Hide and Nowhere to Hide It in Joshua Cohen’s Internet Novel - dnetesn
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/13/books/nothing-to-hide-and-nowhere-to-hide-it-in-joshua-cohens-internet-novel.html?smid=tw-share
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tomlongson
I think many knew widespread wiretapping was likely going on. You don't pardon
the telecoms retroactively for no reason.

What's surprising is that Obama's admin has made no effort publicly to curtail
the programs.

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jacobolus
The conspiracy theorist answer is that they have some kind of dirt on Obama
and/or he’s been promised future earnings if he plays along, and he’s now a
puppet of the spooks. (The future earnings thing isn’t even all that far-
fetched, considering how well plenty of other ex–public servants from both
parties are doing in industry these days.)

The more likely/charitable story is some combination of: (a) the weight of
being President and access to various confidential information and continuous
exposure to a group of intelligence officials’ beliefs caused him to feel that
the surveillance &c. is necessary, or (b) pragmatically as a political matter,
especially to keep campaign contributions flowing in for future Democratic
politicians, Obama thought it necessary to at least partly sell out to the so-
called military-industrial complex, possibly in exchange for political support
on other issues.

One way or another, it is pretty disappointing how far some of his actions on
torture, surveillance, etc. have been from his campaign promises.

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lexap
Looking forward to reading this!

I've been on the lookout for "The Great American Internet Novel" for many
years. Eggers' The Circle was crap.

