Comment by DanBC | Hacker News Reader

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Comment by DanBC | Hacker News Reader

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In the past they sidestepped the law about spying on their own citizens by partnering with other nations, then swapping lists of people to monitor.

This was ECHELON. There were 5 nations involved: The US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON)

That was before 9/11. Why are people surprised that warrantless wire-tapping happens now?

This is because traditional media doesn't police this stuff for us anymore and the average person is too busy to keep up with these issues on their own. Most people have trouble just keeping up with their hobbies let alone politics.

This has been a weird week for personal privacy.

NSA insider reveals NSA has a file on ALL us citizens.

NSA admits to warrantless wiretapping.

NYTimes admits that all news orgs allow government censorship of media.

I mean, what kind of world do people think we really live in?

Once those things come true, stories like http://www.stewwebb.com/GOP_using_Echelon_software_to_spy_on... no longer seem so loony after all.

Wait I missed the NYT story. Link or title?

edit: found it http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/16/us/politics/latest-word-on...

Don't forget "NSA dude is going to speak at DEFCON".

http://defcon.org/html/defcon-20/dc-20-speakers.html#Alexand...

I mean, the nerve.

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