Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Worldwide Surveillance And Privacy War (Which You Already Lost)

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The Worldwide Surveillance And Privacy War (Which You Already Lost)

Click here to access article by Wolf Richter from his blog Testosterone Pit.

Although Orwell's total surveillance dystopia arrived a little behind schedule, it is clear that it now exists. And, to make matters worse, it was just officially approved by most of ~~your~~ the corporate sponsored Representatives in Congress in spite of its conflict with the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, the fictional rule book that supposedly governs political activity in the US.

For years, Congress tolerated or encouraged telephone and internet surveillance of Americans in the US by US government agencies. We all – and that includes the Chinese, for example – now know that, thanks to NSA leaker extraordinaire Edward Snowden. But on Wednesday, Congress was tricked into going on record.