[Dysart]

Important article and needs to be read in full.

I'm pretty sure when Zero touts more "investments in infrastructure" you can bet it's spin for a stepped-up march toward Totalitarianism, and he'll rely on the cooperation of their greedy corporate partners while using our tax dollars to fund it. All for our safety and security, of course.

[skeeter]

Is it a coincidence today’s big tech company presidents are big libs.

[G Larry]

Good grief, is a hammer a good tool or an evil tool?

IT DEPENDS ON WHETHER ITS AIMED AT A NAIL OR YOUR HEAD!!!

Doesn’t make Stanley Tools “evil”.....

[Rapscallion]

I have thought for a long time that NSA should tell the story of its successes, especially after the fact. Doing so would make NSA relevant to the voting public and the politicians. If the public deems it "worth it" NSA will be funded.

I know this. The public would be proud of NSA if it only knew.....

[GenXteacher]

Big business and big government are a bit too cozy.

[GBA]

-------------

“You know what's wrong with scientific power?" Malcolm said.
“It’s a form of inherited wealth. And you know what assholes congenitally rich people are. It never fails."

Hammond said, "What is he talking about?”
Harding made a sign, indicating delirium. Malcolm cocked his eye.

“I will tell you what I am talking about," he said.
"Most kinds of power require a substantial sacrifice by whoever wants the power.
There is an apprenticeship, a discipline lasting many years.
Whatever kind of power you want. President of the company. Black belt in karate. Spiritual guru.
Whatever it is you seek, you have to put in the time, the practice, the effort.
You must give up a lot to get it. It has to be very important to you.
And once you have attained it, it’s your power. It can't be given away: it resides in you.
It is literally the result of your discipline.

Now what is interesting about this process is that,
by the time someone has acquired the ability to kill with his bare hands,
he has also matured to the point where he won't use it unwisely.
So that kind of power has a built-in control.
The discipline of getting the you so that you won't abuse it.

But scientific power is like inherited wealth: attained without discipline.

You read what others have done, and you take the next step.
You can do it very young. You can make progress very fast.
There is no discipline lasting many decades.
There is no mastery: old scientists are ignored.
There is no humility before nature.
There is only a get-rich-quick, make-a-name-for-yourself-fast philosophy.
Cheat, lie, falsify--it doesn't matter. Not to you, or to your colleagues.
No one will criticize you. No one has any standards.
They all trying to do the same thing: to do something big, and do it fast.”

“And because you can stand on the shoulders of giants, you can accomplish something quickly.
You don't even-know exactly what you have done, but already you have reported it; patented it, and sold it.”

“And the buyer will have even less discipline than you. The buyer simply purchases the power, like any commodity.
The buyer doesn’t even conceive that any discipline might be necessary.”

Hammond said, "Do you know what he is talking about?"
Ellie nodded.
“I haven't a clue”; Hammond said.

“I’ll make it simple.” Malcolm said.
"A karate master does not kill people with his bare hands. He does not lose his temper and kill his wife.
The person who kills is the person who has no discipline no restraint,
and who has purchased his power in the form of a Saturday night special.”

“And that is the kind of power that science fosters, and permits.
And that is why you think that to build a place like this is simple."

"It was simple," Hammond insisted.
'Then why did it go wrong?"

--from Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. New York: Ballantine Books, 1990, pp.305-307.

-------------

[antidisestablishment]

This article gets to the heart of the matter. The real question is, which behemoth do you want in charge of your communications and data? I don’t think trusting Apple, Google, or Microsoft is the answer.

If you think that these companies are any more patriotic than the NSA or that their employees are likely to worry about following the law or the Constitution, I have a bridge you may be interested in.

I am not interested in protecting the status quo, but there is a serious debate that has never taken place in the public arena. Personally, I prefer complete privacy with all its dangers to the current system of wholesale search and seizure—”legal” or not.

That said; Snowden is still a traitor. ;)

[null and void]

Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!

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