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Comment by PebblesHD | Hacker News Reader

Wait so 'criticising government policies' is now grounds to classify a high school student as an extremist? Is this seriously the America that exists today? This sounds more like something a paranoid regime somewhere overseas might come up with but not the U.S.

I can say for a fact that I had my fair share of opinions on some pretty ridiculous government policies during high school, at this rate I would have been singled out as a person of interest. What stupidity is this coming from a 'world leading' country.

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As someone who lives in one of those places somewhere overseas, I am kind of amazed at how rapidly the US is approaching the same sort of regime I live under. Over here, if you criticize the government (currently a military junta) they send soldiers to your house who take you to an "education center" for a week or so of attitude adjustment. Many hundreds have been through it already, including prominent academics, students, and even a few former politicians. Maybe the US will use something a little more subtle than they use here, but seems to me it is not long in coming.

Your situation sounds quite concerning, I hope you're doing alright and can deal with the authorities as they are. I sincerely hope current western governments don't go that far, but I too can see the day coming in the not too distant future.

I'm a foreigner here and don't have any say in politics anyway so there's little point in drawing attention to myself by criticizing the government. Just noticing some unfortunate parallels between what they do here and what they are doing in the US. BTW, they love surveillance here - they have nailed a number of people by spying on their messaging (Naver LINE).

I thought LINE had end-to-end encryption these days?

I'm not sure what the truth is. Some people in Thailand got arrested for saying something the government didn't like on LINE. The Thai gov said they had intercepted the offending message with LINE's help. LINE denied helping and said their messaging is secure "because encryption". When I looked at their webpage that's supposed to tell why they are secure it was basically we are secure "because encryption" and stated that "In this function, a robust secure algorithm, recommended by the highest encryption authority (NIST: National Security Agency, U.S.) has been adopted." with a link to a page that is just a list of various encryption standards. It looked basically like a poor joke. I don't know how strong LINE's security is these days but based on what I've read I don't trust them.

>> the highest encryption authority (NIST: National Security Agency, U.S.)

Just wanted to highlight this. I hadn't heard of LINE before but they sound dangerous.

I know exactly what country based on that description.

Apparently before the "education center", you're brought in before military officials "just to talk" about your statements. They publicly phrase it as just wanting to understand your criticisms of the government, but they really just grill you to see who else you've been talking to, what websites you frequent, etc.

> but they really just grill you to see who else you've been talking to, what websites you frequent, etc.

This is where the US is ahead of the game.

Let me guess. You're located in USA ;)

> at this rate I would have been singled out as a person of interest

Getting "singled out" is already happening to activists and whistleblowers in the Land of the Free. These "targeted individuals"[0] are enrolled in a program designed to deny, disrupt, discredit, destroy, degrade, and deceive the targets and anyone who might be interested in their plight.

The ACLU, the FBI, and the media will not investigate; even Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras of Snowden fame will not touch the "Targeted Individual" phenomenon.

I would be inclined to dismiss the wholesale torture of and non-consensual human experimentation on "Targeted Individuals" using "less than lethal" weapons if I were not already a victim. So I don't blame anyone who cannot believe that such things are possible in the USA and other related countries.

There's a lot of JTRIG-style[1] disinfo online but there's a ton of truth for those who are prepared to consider the possibility of a 21st century update to COINTELPRO.

[0] https://www.google.com/#q=targeted+individuals [1] https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/ [2] http://fightgangstalking.com/what-is-gang-stalking/

Gangstalking is a paranoid delusion.

Like most other government surveillance programs, this just piles more hay onto the proverbial haystack. The needles are still there (San Bernadino shooters, Boston Marathon bombers, etc.) but they're even harder to find than before.

I think, somewhere in all this, one has to read between the lines.

Young kids, while still in high school, might be terrified of mom and dad finding their secret social media profiles, but otherwise they're very active, downright sloppy, and probably not mindful of carrier-grade government tier national/international surveillance.

Are they enabling full disk encryption? Are they hardening their passwords? Are they even remotely secretive beyond their immediate social spheres?

This means it's a huge, ripe fruit, full of vital information, and eager to be plucked.

So they intend to pull as much data as possible, pre-emptively, so that there's something to mine. Just in case, later on, maybe something will eventually prove useful.

So many other age groups are too savvy now. Ruined by revelations, cautious and jaded to the fact that convenience means naked exposure of identity. But in time their ways will sunset, as they grow old, and are put out to pasture.

Those who are young now... well... it's already too late.

A lot of good and smart kids have disdain for authority and status-quo. I will not be surprised that this students will be harassed by these government policies.

We need to take schooling back from government.

Was a time when not doing so would be the extreme view.

Your reply has been noted.

> Is this seriously the America that exists today?

Uh, yeah? I mean, no shit it is. This isn't much farther over the line than the shit that went down in response to the WTC attacks. Where have you been?

> Where have you been?

Australia, thankfully. Although the current direction of our government is also becoming increasingly security oriented, to the point of metadata retention schemes and site blocking at the ISP level coming in.

Australia leads the pack in defining workable, effective social control measures for its population. Whatever you think America is going to do in the immediate future, America's little cousin, Australia, has already done it, and is quite proud to show their bigger American pals just how to do it ..

Abbott chipped away at healthcare and Turnbull's current policies aren't distinguishable from Abbott's old policies.

Stuff like this makes one think its only a matter of time before the borders point inward.

"Is this seriously the America that exists today?" Not denying they have taken it up a notch, but FBI has always been some borderline Gestapo institution from it's inception. You heard of Edgar Hoover right?

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