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I agree with the main point of the article, but feel like it undermines itself in a couple of ways. Firstly (and by far most importantly), the alleged quote from the NSA[1] comes from a parody site which explicitly states "[t]his parody website has no connection whatsoever to the National Security Agency"[2]. If a reader isn't already convinced of the potential harms of mass surveillance, (accidentally, presumably) using such quotes makes the arguments easier to discard.

Secondly, and this is more of a pet peeve of mine, is the "top highlight" that appears mid-way through the article. I know they aren't really comparable, but "mass surveillance is bad, but, by the way, we are totally tracking every interaction you make with this article" doesn't feel like a particularly consistent position to hold.

[1] > The standard operating procedure for the Domestic Surveillance Directorate is to 'collect all available information from all available sources all the time, every time, always.', per https://nsa.gov1.info/data/

[2] https://nsa.gov1.info/about/about.html




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