Posted on 06/16/2013 6:54:20 AM PDT by newheart
Big Brother, The All-Seeing Eye of Sauron, The Panopticon, The Observers, The Watchers, The Surveillance State, The NSA. Whatever name we use to refer to it there is a fundamental urge to assume that being spied on is bad. (I agree.)
However, in every discussion of the problem there is always someone who will pop up with an off-the-cuff remark that goes something like this,"If you have nothing to hide, who cares?" or "I'm not doing anything wrong, so what difference does is make?"
On the surface that sounds reasonable, right? Those who are not guilty have nothing to hide, right?
I am particularly interested in the "Christian" variation of the argument that uses Luke 8:17, "There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed," so what's the big deal?
Here are my questions, submitted to the all-knowing (if not all-seeing) Freeper community.
1. Fundamentally what is wrong with being spied upon?
2. What is the problem with the "I have nothing to hide, who cares?" argument? (Or, if you prefer, you are most welcome to defend that position.)
Freepontificate to your heart's content. Remember, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. (But of course no one is really listening?) I'm off to church to worship the only true (and trustworthy) omniscient being.
One of the things I don’t like about it falls in line with my objection to traffic cameras.
What if they decide to use what they’ve mined for something against me OTHER than stated purpose? Why should they know everything about me which in a sane normal world would be ignored? In this crazy society, the fact that I don’t approve of homos is considered subversive. Maybe tomorrow they will go after me because they find I love old cars - those evil big gas-guzzling monstrosities. Or they find out I don’t recycle?
What business is it of theirs, and how are they going to use the most mundane things against me?
Reading “Black List” by Brad Thor currently. The theme of the story is so parallel to what’s going on right now with the nsa, fbi, etc it’s spooky. It’s NOBODY’s business what anybody is doing unless we are inflicting harm on someone else. I’ve always had an issue with credit card tracking and loyalty cards at the grocery store. Maybe it’s just so they can keep track of what folks buy so they can stock up easier. Maybe it’s to track your habits and develop “your” patterns. Hmm. Leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone. If I need your help, I’ll call. Otherwise, shhhhhh! Butt out! Kinda don’t think that’s gonna happen. The more power they have, the more they want. What’s that flushing sound? Hard to hear over the sound of the drones circling.
Fundamentally, the Fourth Amendment.
Nothing to hide? Okay, let’s go there. Consider some spy finding this out, and deciding to use it against you.
1) You did something stupid in your youth. maybe a drug problem or something. you’ve long since been clean. However, a new potential employer need not know that since it could affect your chances.
2) You’re the ex of an abusive spouse, and you’ve moved for your own safety.
3) You testify in case as where despite you getting death threats, you didn’t get picked for the witness protection programs.
4) You work for a company and signed a non-discloser agreement, but figure it was okay to discuss details with a co-worker via corporate email.
5) You are on the phone discussing information that is considered attorney-client privilege.
6) Any general discussion of your personal protection in your home.
7) Discussion and/or online details of your access to financial institutions
8) Discussion and/or online content of your medical information.
9) Discussions on phone while you are the Power of Attorney for another person handling their affairs.
10) If suddenly you realized that your political and/or religious beliefs could in fact be considered suspect and a threat to government itself.
That was 10 reasons right off the top of my head why people my not want to be spied upon. I left the blatant violation of the 4th Amendment off - just for sport.
Toodles.
http://nsa.gov1.info/data/index.html
“If you have nothing to hide....”
Kinda chillin’ if ya ask me...
What they hear: I could kill obama and it would be the greatest thing ever.
15 years ago :DOMA
today: un-DOMA
15 years ago: you’re entitled to your own opinion
today: you’re entitled to my opinion
The Fourth Amendment is a fundamental cornerstone against tyranny. Giving up privacy to a tyrannical authority leads to imprisonment based on any nonsensical argument of probable cause.
The reason so many think there is nothing to fear is not because government is beneficent or benign. It is because government has been constrained and freedom allowed to flourish. Take away the Bill of Rights and watch how quickly the opposite reality develops.
Because it’s WRONG?
Have you heard of the 4th Amendment of the Constitution?
Something about unreasonable search and seizure?
But I guess today nobody cares about the Constitution anymore... and it doesn’t seem to be sufficient justification...
“I have nothing to hide, who cares?”
Au contraire, Pierre.
I may just have a whole LOT I would just as soon be kept hidden. Even the most innocuous of actions or behavior, can be picked up by somebody who bears you malice, and get twisted into some so malign, so vicious, you could not even recognize yourself, let alone ever regain the forgiveness of your mother.
So much of what is gleaned by this method is very lop-sided, given no rationalization or excuse, and an even more vast amount is intentionally pruned and selectively chosen as to make the exact opposite seem to be the reality.
And believe me, the collectors of this information bear great and abiding malice toward you and yours, no joke, especially considering the direction this country has gone in only the few past years. I date the decline from about the time the Democrats threw enough misinformation and disinformation into the political campaigns of 2006 to tip the popular view that there was a “culture of corruption”.
Not that the Democrats are any shining pillars of virtue. Like the reptiles and amphibians that dwell in fever swamps, they seen immune to the effects of the very afflictions they claim are borne by others.
I’ve been through it.
Sooner or later they have to justify what they are doing by “finding” criminal activity.
They will “find” the criminal activity by creating it themselves.
On the surface that sounds reasonable, right? Those who are not guilty have nothing to hide, right?
If the feral government has no malicious intentions, it has no reason to spy on the citizenry.
This is a good question, because as Christians we all know that God sees everything anyway right? So why should it matter to us what the government is doing to keep tabs on us?
Well... it goes back to a basic argument and truth that our founding fathers understood because they lived under a tyrannical system of government. The truth is this... that Government is inherently evil. It is inherently evil because all men are inherently evil. It’s the old cliche about how power corrupts even the best of men. This is why they sought to limit the power and scope of government, limiting it to just those functions that were necessary for national security.
The power to spy is the power to control.
It does not matter whether the information obtained is truthful or not. If the government has the authority to use that intrusive form of evidence against you, you technically have no defense under the law.
It is why our founding fathers set up a judicial system guaranteeing us the right to be tried by a jury of OUR piers. The government is limited to HOW it gathers information against you so that your ability to defend yourself in a court of law is secured.
This truth should be making itself more and more apparent to us today. It seems like every day we hear of new breaches of our right to privacy. Do you not see how the government uses its abuse of power to destroy individuals that oppose it???
Again, the truth does not matter when the government has full control over the judicial process without checks or balances from the people.
Our system was established so that government would execute a process which allows us to judge ourselves. (jury system)
What is more troubling to me is the fact that fewer and fewer people UNDERSTAND why the right to privacy is so important. More and more people generally tend to trust a governmental system which is CLEARLY opposed to the principles of freedom.
My concerns are that one sentence can be taken out of context and used to incriminate an individual that the gubermit or other entity wants to erase.
Also, youthful mistakes may be held over ones head to get rid of opposing thoughts, ideas or speech. See IRS...
I have nothing to hide and have no known illegal activities, yet I am certain that a single misconstrued sentence could be used to incriminate me somehow.
That is the danger...
I believe the Founders addressed the situation in the fourth amendment of the Constitution, but then others may parse the wording in favor of goals other than those of the Founders.
The Federal Government was not designed to lord over the populace as the Federal Government is functioning today. It was designed to manage the union of the States, protect the borders, etc., but NOT by any means as the ruling entity that it has become by perseverance of the Left over many years.
The Federal Government has no business in our business.
I am afraid! very afraid!
Walkie Talkies? What about Cell Phones? As a customer in a store or restaurant I can hear everything the person is saying. Very annoying.
The premise of the "nothing to hide" argument is that only those engaging in criminal activity would object to being spied upon, and thus those who object must therefore be engaging in criminal activity. This is an attempt at intimidating people from disagreeing.
The reality of life today, is that everybody has opinions and statements which could be used against us by a hostile entity which is possession of our intimate communications. Look at the people who have had their careers or businesses damaged by it being revealed that they had opinions, or supported positions, that others disliked or found offensive?
Whether opposing gay marriage, or being gay and not wanting to be outed, whether being a conservative in a left-wing industry, or being a left-winger surrounded by conservatives, there are things we prefer to keep to ourselves.
This is especially true in a time when the powers-that-be have a habit of leaking private information about those who displease them.
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