I'm interested in your thoughts on the following question:
Why have the Snowden revelations rocked the rest of the world, and here (in the U K ) ?Nothing.
I'm interested in your thoughts on the following question:
Why have the Snowden revelations rocked the rest of the world, and here (in the U K ) ?Nothing.
Is it because we have become so habituated over time to various forms of surveillance / data trawling in this country that we tend not see these revelations as 'big' ? And do we have too much trust in authority, i.e. if you aren't doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about?
Our lives are full of our own struggles
Tackling the things that concern us
Limits us to following the wider issues
Spies, banks, councils, governments
Are always creating us some issues
Every action creates a political reaction
We are only along for the ride now
Fighting city hall is limited to the few
Most of us just get on with our lives
This is a very personal view
And other views are available
I can see that this answers why people in the UK might not care. But why has the reaction been so different elsewhere? Even in the USA?
Do I take it that you now await an Americans view?
Do I take it that you now await an Americans view?
Not really. I'm just wondering why the UK's reaction has been so much more muted than anywhere else.
I don't expect anyone too have a clear answer, but maybe they'll have interesting theories. Your previous post could have applied to almost anywhere. Mouse's might be closer to the mark but I'm still not sure why we should be so different.
Not really. I'm just wondering why the UK's reaction has been so much more muted than anywhere else.
I don't expect anyone too have a clear answer, but maybe they'll have interesting theories. Your previous post could have applied to almost anywhere. Mouse's might be closer to the mark but I'm still not sure why we should be so different.
This is an interesting question. If you are being cynical you could say that the media here has actively stifled any debate along these lines, hmmmmm, not sure. If you haven't already read it, Henry Porter has some interesting things to say along these lines:
[url]Perhaps I'm out of step and Britons just don't think privacy is important | Henry Porter | Comment is free | The Observer[/url]
This is an interesting question. If you are being cynical you could say that the media here has actively stifled any debate along these lines, hmmmmm, not sure. If you haven't already read it, Henry Porter has some interesting things to say along these lines:
[url]Perhaps I'm out of step and Britons just don't think privacy is important | Henry Porter | Comment is free | The Observer[/url]
Thanks for this. Interesting reading. Simon Jenkins wrote an article about it in this morning's Guardian. Here.
[COLOR="Green"]Could the lack of feedback/interest/caring be due to it looking like a fairly recent investigation, i.e. what have they found out exactly yet regarding what it breaches?
Also, I listen to the news but had to google this to find out what the Snowden investigations are so, either I don't pay close enough attention to the mass media portrayal of the news or it is given sporadic/low coverage.
Could the lack of feedback/interest/caring be due to it looking like a fairly recent investigation, i.e. what have they found out exactly yet regarding what it breaches?
Also, I listen to the news but had to google this to find out what the Snowden investigations are so, either I don't pay close enough attention to the mass media portrayal of the news or it is given sporadic/low coverage.
I agee. This is part of the problem (Although, I guess, many don't see it as a problem.) The BBC seems to be downplaying it and of all the newspapers, only the Guardian/Observer seems to be interested. It's been going on for months, but few of the people I speak to know about it.
I agree that part of the problem of the Snowden case is that in the UK we are habitualized to high amount of electronic surveillance.
I've heard it be said that "If you are not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to hide". Well all I can say to that's what Goebbels, Hitler's minister of propaganda, said to justify the inhumanity of the Third Reich.
And it depends on the social circles you walk in. In mine the whole Snowden case is not a surprise as it has been rumoured for many years that the UK/USA security services were up to this. A conspiracy theory that has become a conspiracy fact!!
Interestingly it wasn't that many years ago when so-called Communist Eastern Europe "collapsed" and how the Western media made a big deal of the fact that the Stasi were tapping into the East German telephone system with the lines routed into a monitoring centre. What's the difference between that and the electronic eavesdropping of today?
The thing that is very interesting that came about from Snowden's whistle blowing was the high level of US monitoring of Germany. Why? Isn't Germany allies? A logical reason for this is it's about industrial espionage. This is a conclusion I've been thinking for quite a while, and recently has been discussed on RT's Keiser Report.
RP
[url]Don’t trust your phone, don’t trust your laptop – this is the reality that Snowden has shown us John Naughton - in The Guardian[/url]
Here are some beneficial/positive steps that can be taken to safeguard your privacy.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/21-tips-tricks-and-shortcuts-to-help-you-stay-anonymous-online/ar-BBiibQ0?ocid=mailsignoutmd
I just installed ghostery. (Used to have DNT - do not track -but it became no longer free).
I'm interested in your thoughts on the following question:
Why have the Snowden revelations rocked the rest of the world, and here (in the U K ) ?Nothing.
From a personal perspective, I have always accepted that spying goes on. I don't know about other countries, but in the UK, the spin on spying has been something of a positive one. Perhaps this goes back to WW2, in which messages being intercepted and decoded is something that is celebrated as part of the 'war effort'. Similarly, trivial as it might seem, we have the likes of James Bond, an international spy working for Queen and country. On the contrary, American spying since the cold war have had more of a negative spin. So when I hear a story of intelligence agencies using phones and internet to spy, I don't feel shocked, I am left wondering why this is a revelation and whether I missed the point.
From a personal perspective, I have always accepted that spying goes on. I don't know about other countries, but in the UK, the spin on spying has been something of a positive one. Perhaps this goes back to WW2, in which messages being intercepted and decoded is something that is celebrated as part of the 'war effort'. Similarly, trivial as it might seem, we have the likes of James Bond, an international spy working for Queen and country. On the contrary, American spying since the cold war have had more of a negative spin. So when I hear a story of intelligence agencies using phones and internet to spy, I don't feel shocked, I am left wondering why this is a revelation and whether I missed the point.
I think you've hit the nail on the head keke!
There was a discussion a few days ago on the radio about surveillance and as one speaker pointed out, if you use the internet, there is no privacy. If you have a look at a holiday say, suddenly, every time you go to a search site, ads for holiday companies appear at the side of each page. People are keeping tabs on us everywhere. We can use ad-blockers, but if we have a supermarket card, they know exactly what you buy and what you spend. Like it or not, if we want the convenience of the internet and other advantages of IT, it seems we already give up our right to privacy. If we want total privacy, the answer is to live in a tent, dispose of the computer/tablet/phone and only communicate through snail mail again. 🙁
On a more serious tone, the world is a dangerous place at the moment and I for one feel it's a small price to pay if it helps the vast innocent majority to be safer because threats are found out and stopped (and they have been). Anyone is welcome to trawl through all my phone calls, texts and emails - but they would probably die of boredom! :p