Here are some recent status updates from my facebook page. I thought they should be seen here. (And, yeah, I use hashtags sometimes in a non-Twitter setting.)
-Privacy matters. Yes, it matters. As a group
of authors recently calling for a "Bill of Digital Rights" put it: a
person under surveillance is not free. Think about that, and let the
truth of it sink in.
-Your
indifference to living in a surveillance state is proportional to your
willingness to be manipulated by those who are watching you. #BraveNewWorld #1984 #ItCan'tHappenHere #WhyHaveStalkerLaws?
-Imagine
a prison or jail without any surveillance of its population whatsoever.
What would that mean for the prisoners? Given time and opportunity,
their freedom. Get it? People who are under surveillance are not free. #SovietUnion #EasternBlocCountries #ItIsABigDeal
-If you support "stalker laws" but are indifferent to living in a surveillance state, you're missing something. #privacymatters #yourprivacymatters #IHaveNothingToHideIsNotThePoint
-If an
individual doesn't have the right to stalk people, then how does a
GROUP of people get the right to stalk everyone? Stalker laws are
unconstitutional if what the NSA has been doing is not. #CannotHaveItBothWays #NoSurveillanceState
Some of you who have read this blog will remember that I am a piano tuner. I recently did a tuning for a customer who came to this country in 1981 from Poland. As I was packing up to leave, she said to me, among other things (and with a heavy accent):
"I love this country! I love America! But it is not the same country as when I arrived in 1981. It starts to feel socialist. It reminds me of where I came from. In Poland, it was always the dream to come here to America - the dream!
"But now, it is changing into what I left. The surveillance. I was talking to friend on phone the other day and thought I should be careful what I say. It reminded me of growing up in Poland and my father always said, 'You can talk about politics in the house, but when you go outside, be careful of what you say or they will come after me and your mother.'"
When I mentioned Edward Snowden, and that some here think he's good and others think he's bad, she said unabashedly, "He is a hero! We need whistle-blowers!"
She went on: "I am scared for this country! I love this country and consider it my country. But it is changing. And Wall Street! In this country if you steal a soda at the store you go to jail. But if you steal from the whole country, nothing happens!
"When I was growing up, everyone wanted to come to America. It truly was a unique country in the whole world. But now, I think of sending my daughter to Europe for college. It's not the same. And no one is getting mad! It is changing, and not for the good."
