Today, the Obama truth is revealed. Change has come in the form of familiarity. Some American's are embarrassed. Others embrace what, when presented by the previous Administration, they rejected. Apathy helps most Americans to avoid a sense of shame. It was announced; Obama defends Bush-era secrets. This Administration has gone further to establish government sovereignty. As a nation, the Obama White House tells citizens, our country will be better protected if details about the surveillance program are considered "Top Secret - Sensitive Compartmented Information."
On the occasion of the Convention on Modern Liberty currently taking place in the UK, Times Online published a column by novelist Phillip Pullman (The Golden Compass) on the surveillance state and the erosion of civil liberties in Britain.
Or rather, it briefly published this column and then, apparently, withdrew it. At the time of writing, the original link led to an error page -- though the column was still listed in search results for the Times Online site. The Google cache of the page was scrubbed.
Many words have been proffered regarding the FISA bill this week, and I was actually preparing an analysis of the events when, to my surprise, I received an email that made me alter my schedule completely.
I want to apologize in advance to Danny Medress, over at Democracy for America, for whom I was preparing the analysis; and all I can tell you, Danny, is that this was of such import that the schedule had to be slipped.
That said, presented here in its entirety is the memo I received ...and having read it through, I have to say I feel much safer.
The justification for enhanced security and the extra limits on civil liberties is not primarily to prevent physical attacks, but to defend our "way of life". As George Bush said, "they hate us for our freedoms".
One can debate the best methods to prevent physical attacks, but these are usually similar to defending against any form of lawlessness. Some combination of policing, intelligence gathering and observation. Any police official will explain that the goal of preventing, say, all armed robberies is impossible, the best one can do is to keep the level as low as possible. To expect otherwise in the case of politically motivated violence is unrealistic.
So to defend "our freedoms" the first thing that a society should do, one would think, was to maintain those freedoms that already exist. Otherwise the "terrorists have won". How has the record been in the US so far? I'll list just a handful of disturbing examples where the infringements on civil liberties have led us towards a society just like the ones we claim to oppose.
The US congress has been updating its surveillance policies again and has finally succeeded in removing the last shred of civil liberties based upon prior law. There are a few groups which understand the importance of ensuring the privacy of the average person and have been objecting to the wholesale intrusion on this privacy, but I think this is not the most important violation.
For example, there is some concern about getting a court-issued warrant before surveillance can take place. This is based upon the provision in the fourth amendment:
Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
However, in practice this is a sham requirement. The FISA court set up to "protect" the rights of those being spied upon has approved all but a handful of such requests, so whether a warrant is "required" these days makes no difference in practice.
Yer little sister, your nephew, daughter and of course a great good read for yourself. "Little Brother" by Cory Doctrow is just about the most timely exciting, involved, explainatory, descriptive and prescriptive book of our time. And a damn good read too. And yes the title is a play on Big Brother, except we are watching them. The power of the small. I feel OK with this diary just seeming like a plug because its so damn useful to progressives and freedom lovers, and because, and you must read why, its also available for free. http://craphound.com/littlebro... is a link to buying the book, and lots of other stuff. It's free at that link too.
Sharing information is certainly one of the central needs and successes of our time. In fact I would hazard that without the inter-toobs, this Reformation would not be possible, no matter how bad or angry or depressed people got, the only relief allowed would be "The Change You Deserve" Anti-depressents, not what we created Change We Can Believe In. So a book, explaining all these issues, from net neutrality to being spied on, to untrusted authority it's all here in a wonderful book, aimed at not just teenagers but the teenager in all of us.
A rollicking good romp, with teen heroes using smarts, tools, cameras and the internet to fight back. This is the kind of book that gets worn and wrinkled as its past from hand to hand to hand.
I'd recommend Little Brother over pretty much any book I've read this year, and I'd want to get it into the hands of as many smart 13 year olds, male and female, as I can.
Because I think it'll change lives. Because some kids, maybe just a few, won't be the same after they've read it. Maybe they'll change politically, maybe technologically. Maybe it'll just be the first book they loved or that spoke to their inner geek. Maybe they'll want to argue about it and disagree with it. Maybe they'll want to open their computer and see what's in there. I don't know. It made me want to be 13 again right now and reading it for the first time, and then go out and make the world better or stranger or odder. It's a wonderful, important book, in a way that renders its flaws pretty much meaningless.
Neil Gaiman, author of Sandman and Anansi Boys
A worthy younger sibling to Orwell's 1984, Cory Doctorow's LITTLE BROTHER is lively, precocious, and most importantly, a little scary.
Brian K Vaughn, author of Y: The Last Man
Get several copies of this book; read one, lend and give the rest. Now lets have more suggestions on great books for young people. Or any gift that gives kids more information, more tools, more confidence would be great.
A rousing tale of techno-geek rebellion, as necessary and dangerous as file sharing, free speech, and bottled water on a plane.
Obama's campaign has found evidence that 'viral campaign' is hurting them in Kentucky, saying "he is a muslim."
The medication for such viruses isn't just lots of information, but lots of skills in finding the truth, how to do research, and how to detect self serving lies.
STATE BLOGS
I feel OK with this diary just seeming like a plug because its so damn useful to progressives and freedom lovers, and because, and you must read why, its also available for free.