Orwell's 1984 coming true ?

[sexy-girl]

big brother is watching you

wow this is scary and super creepy im glad i dont live in one of those cities in america ... how would you feel inviting a tv man around your house and knowing he could be spying on you

as the article says its like the east german stasi but in america



http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20020716-75882632.htm


sorry if this has been posted elsewhere

 

[BigDawg69]

OK so who exactly trains these "informants" an what to look for? This absolutely scares the ever living shit out of me! Talk about invasion of privacy! Based on our intellignece communities past history of screening bad guys how can anyone be sure that one of the "informants" isn't a terrorist?

I thought Bush could get no worse yesterday when he boldly announced that there was nothing wrong with the American economy, but this takes the cake!

Heil Bush!

 

[sunstruck]

This doesn't surprise me. Not even a little. I've pretty much accepted that fact that anything and eveything you say and do is tracable. The only reason it doesn't bother me more is I don't say or do anything the government would care about.

As a liberal citizen it's an outrage, and my sense of freedom is screaming, but as a realist...that's just the way it is.

 

[BigDawg69]

The only reason it doesn't bother me more is I don't say or do anything the government would care about.

Do you think our conservative friends in Congress would condon this website?
I do not think it a far cry to say that open forums such as this (especially one that goes against their image of "Family Values") would be something suspect and therefore need to be banned, or worse the members be investigated, possibly held and questioned. Think it can't happen? Ask all the writers and directors brought before the Senate during the McCarthy years.

 

[sexy-girl]

but sunstruck i feel uncomfortable enough about repair people coming to my house ... if there was a chance they were "spys" and they were collecting data about me to be stored and analsysed by the government ... thats just like no way

i honestly cant understand how they can get away with doing it

 

[RTWudder]

You have more to worry about from a Megacorp called Experion than you do from the feds. Experion is the company that assembles all you spending information and then sells it to whoever can pay, the Gap, Wal-Mart, the CIA, anyone. Experion has more peronal information on anyone who has ever bought anything with a check, credit card, mail order, or signed up for a free trip than the government could ever hope to amass.

There are government supercomputers that are scanning the internet looking for site usage that could indicate terrorist activity, as if all terrorists use the internet to find out how to make a bomb. This has been going on for years. Your cell phone is one of the most easily tracked pieces of electronic equipment out there. But the invasion of "Big Brother" is coming from "Big Business" not the government. Lord & Taylor is more interested in what you are doing every minute of your life than the government is owing to a simple difference of business approach; business wants to be proactive and make you do something while the government is reactive and will clean up afterwards.

 

[Mountain Man]

You have more to worry about from a Megacorp called Experion than you do from the feds. Experion is the company that assembles all you spending information and then sells it to whoever can pay, the Gap, Wal-Mart, the CIA, anyone. Experion has more peronal information on anyone who has ever bought anything with a check, credit card, mail order, or signed up for a free trip than the government could ever hope to amass.

There are government supercomputers that are scanning the internet looking for site usage that could indicate terrorist activity, as if all terrorists use the internet to find out how to make a bomb. This has been going on for years. Your cell phone is one of the most easily tracked pieces of electronic equipment out there. But the invasion of "Big Brother" is coming from "Big Business" not the government. Lord & Taylor is more interested in what you are doing every minute of your life than the government is owing to a simple difference of business approach; business wants to be proactive and make you do something while the government is reactive and will clean up afterwards.

But Lord & Taylor and the Gapare not going to come and arrest me

 

[BigDawg69]

business wants to be proactive and make you do something while the government is reactive and will clean up afterwards.

Attempt to persude me do something, buy something whatever, just don't throw me into an interrogation or jail for doing it or buying because Orin Hatch doesn't think it is "American" or displays his version of "Family Values."

 

[markb325]

Ok here is my take on the situation.

UNTIL the American public gets off their back sides and says enough our government is going to keep doing whatever it feels in the "Name of Security" Democrat or Republican it doesn't matter both sides are trying to lay the constitution a side. The government is trying to cover up the fact that they screwed up. If Congress hadn't of made it so difficult for the CIA and FBI to talk to one another, the outcome might have been different on 9/11. The keyword there is might. Either way us as citizens of the US need to stand up and tell the government to do something constructive instead of this crap that actually goes against the constitution.

 

[sexy-girl]

i agree that there has been a lot of breaches of privacy and perhaps consumers should of done more about it sooner if they could of that is

but the last safety barrier was the home ... and now that is being taken too

what's worse is that its the government doing it

 

[RhumbRunner13]

Yeah........

.....and then Allen Greenspan comes on today and says the exact same thing! In fact he says the economy is strengthening and we will begin to see stock prices recover later this year!! HOLY SHIT!!! WHAT'S GOING ON!!!! The sky is falling.........the sky is falling!!!!!

Rhumb

 

[sunstruck]

I'm not saying I'm ok with it. Not in the least. I think it is a massive invasion of rights and privacy and I think Bush is WELL on his way to becoming the next McCarthy. The whole thing makes me sick.

But am I going to be freaked out tomorrow when the guy comes to change my gas meter? No. I don't have any reason to be. All he's going to infer from my home is that I have too many pets and a book fettish.

As to this site...no I don't think conservatives would publically approve of it (privately they're posting their asses off), but I dont' think it's something I could be arrested, questioned, filed or sequestered over.

I hate the idea that it has actually come to this. I hate Bush for doing it. In my opinion it means "they" win, because America is no longer truely the home of the free.

 

[plasticman33]

This policy is already in force in federally controlled agencies, the Washington Post report is basically just informing the general public and expanding the program.

 

[Kitte]

See I knew I should have put the bong away while the cable guy was here....

In all seriousness, we are entering a world that no one wants but no one is going to do anything about it either.
It is not as though the government is making giant leaps towards a police state it is small quiet steps under the guise of protection. It began long before 9/11 and will continue until the outcry of the public stops it.
Then again it could be like other countries where if you speak out you are silenced. I know that sounds a bit rectionary but, who would have ever thought the UPS man would be reporting to Uncle Sam?

 

[Thrillhouse]

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

 

[RhumbRunner13]

Isn't this liberal rant coming from the same people who claimed that Bush, the FBI, the CIA et al should have known about September 11 and done something about it?

Can't win with you guys, huh

Rhumb

 

[sexy-girl]

Isn't this liberal rant coming from the same people who claimed that Bush, the FBI, the CIA et al should have known about September 11 and done something about it?

Can't win with you guys, huh

Rhumb

i thought regardless of party affiliations most americans would be against this attack on america's freedom by its own government regardless of who that government is

 

[sunstruck]

I agree, I don't think it's about partisanship(sp). I think you'd be hard pressed to find many Americans, conservative, liberal, whatever, that would support this.

 

[celiaKitten]

i thought regardless of party affiliations most americans would be against this attack on america's freedom by its own government regardless of who that government is

A sexy-girl making an excellent point is a beautiful thing.

Took the words right out of my mouth, doll.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

"Tips" programs like these already exist, and have existed, just fine, without anyone's civil liberties being trod upon. I'll watch this current trend, but I'm not worried.

 

[Ishmael]

I saw that yesterday and immediately wrote my congressman and senators. I can't begin to tell you people how much against this I am.

If you are, I suggest you write or e-mail too. They do listen on occasion. Especially if the mail is overloaded in one direction.

Ishmael

 

[Marxist]

The real consequence of "1984" is constant warfare with shifting alliances. Not that far from where we stand right now really.


Think about it, has Iran really ever been a true enemy in the traditional sense? Has Iraq ever been our friend in the traditional Allied sense? What about our support of the Taliban? What about our "civilian" meddling around the Third World in support of U.S. corporations.

"1984" has come and gone and stayed.

Grenada
Panama
Colombia
the Phillipines
Angola

 

[RhumbRunner13]

i thought regardless of party affiliations most americans would be against this attack on america's freedom by its own government regardless of who that government is

OK, then just how do you expect "anyone" to know anything. I guess the government can just devine everything with a oigi board. God forbid that everyone be aware of their surrondings and report sometrhing out of the ordinary!

Rhumb

 

[celiaKitten]

The real consequence of "1984" is constant warfare with shifting alliances. Not that far from where we stand right now really.


Think about it, has Iran really ever been a true enemy in the traditional sense? Has Iraq ever been our friend in the traditional Allied sense? What about our support of the Taliban? What about our "civilian" meddling around the Third World in support of U.S. corporations.

"1984" has come and gone and stayed.

Grenada
Panama
Colombia
the Phillipines
Angola

You know, Marxist, while I had thought about the more domestic aspects of the parallel, I hadn't thought about the warrish setting. It is rather startling to think that, in fact, some aspects are much *worse* in reality. Apathy, sticking to the status quo and unquestioning loyalty to a *face* of a leader are what startle me the most in current time.

 

[sexy-girl]

"Tips" programs like these already exist, and have existed, just fine, without anyone's civil liberties being trod upon. I'll watch this current trend, but I'm not worried.

the thing so shocking about the east german stasi was the large amount of people working for them it work out that 1 out of 5 people would be a "spy" for them


and likewise the thing that seems so shocking about what they are trying to put forward in this phase of the "tips" is it works out in the 10 citys they are piloting it on there will be 4% of the population doing the spying how many americans would that work out if they did it nationwide


and rhumb do you really think this will catch any terrorists will they be stupid enough not to put away their bomb making tools when they let the electric man in ... this isnt about catching terrorists its about the government wanting more control over your daily life


and thank you CK ... and good for you ishmael if i was american i would do same thing


i would like to know the legal stand point of what would happen if someone was arrested following a "search" on their home by an electric man ... we need a lawyer type in this thread ... lavender siren ... mischka