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But if governments are attempting to hack each others systems and institutions like banks are vulnerable to legitimate and purposeful tampering, then what happens to the people who depend on these systems in the event of a breakdown, intentional or otherwise? If WWIII is a cyber war it could break out with no warning and devastate almost everyone. This means we've become so blindly dependent on a corporate controlled infrastructure that a systemic shift the other way may be almost impossible already.

The reason I said mass protests are futile Bhel is because these big multinationals would be unaffected and don't give two shits what any group thinks. What impact would they have?

9550. arkymalarky - 7/3/2013 5:24:16 PM

And many of the most concerning ones contract with the government. I don't think it's about Facebook or amazon or even Google. It's not about personal data collection or data mining. It's about the entire edifice and how embedded into it we all are. Government has a duty to control this and instead it has embraced and itself become dependent on corporate contracts of high tech services.

9551. arkymalarky - 7/3/2013 5:30:31 PM

I'm not a conspiracy theorist either, though I definitely wear a tinfoil hat on this issue; but what concerns me more than even a conspiracy is that no one is minding the store which means each entity, whether government (any nation, not just the US) or corporate, has its own agenda and is trying to drive different outcomes. Which means possible endagmes are hard to even visualize, much less predict.

9552. arkymalarky - 7/3/2013 5:41:30 PM

In short, I think it's naive to think we have privacy on the information networks, but we have a right to expect security and responsible use of not only our private information, but the tech systems we depend on. Effectively demanding such a thing is another story. Several years ago in AR a copy of thousands of teachers' personal info was stolen or just disappeared ( why they had it in a format that made that possible is beyond me). No one was held accountable, nothing happened, nothing was resolved. There's essentially no accountability at any level.

9553. judithathome - 7/3/2013 7:08:48 PM

" A million people on the streets every day in just one American city would shake the government to its foundations, possibly permanently strip the layer of legitimacy that is given to the status quo."

.....Sorry but Big Brother Gates just downloaded a new browser that I didn't order and I can't make the little HTML tags...my little "i" inside them turns into a capital letter as soon as I do the closing tag.....

Anyhow, in response to the quoted statement above, the government i.e. members of it...wouldn't bat an eye if millions took to the streets...the parties are safe in most areas because of gerrymandering (redistricting). Here in Texas it is practically impossible to elect a Democrat...in some states, the reverse is true.

These politicians care about the PARTY, not about the PEOPLE. If one candidate only got 20 votes in a state election and the other guy got 5, the Party would have won, regardless.

Our system of elections is broken...re-districting and Big Money has seen to that. Most people just won't admit it.

9554. arkymalarky - 7/3/2013 7:21:45 PM

use Chrome Judith. Google is a much better Big Brother than Microsoft.heh.

I think you're exactly right. What the Koch Bros are doing is being done at the state level everywhere and the SCOTUS VRA decision will allow them to finish the job.

9555. arkymalarky - 7/3/2013 7:22:28 PM

scaring the piss out of white people might not even have been necessary.

9556. arkymalarky - 7/3/2013 7:23:01 PM

that is to say white heterosexual people.

9557. arkymalarky - 7/3/2013 8:25:18 PM

I guess is to be expected, but man the situation in Egypt is moving like lightning.

9558. Wombat - 7/3/2013 10:04:20 PM

A democratic system of government needs a degree of consensus and safeguards that protect all participants. Something Morsi hadn't figured out, and the Republicans in this country seem to be forgetting.

9559. vonKreedon - 7/4/2013 1:13:49 AM

Yep.

9560. bhelpuri - 7/4/2013 2:46:36 PM

Yet another spectacular mis-step by Obama regarding Snowden. "Latin America demands an explanation."

American media purposefully avoiding, but the fact is the shit has hit the fan worldwide after the continuing revelations from this rather amazing whistleblower. I am among those who find his actions heroic.

9561. Wombat - 7/4/2013 4:45:05 PM

Most countries would rather continue to have a positive relationship with the United States, and not do things that would needlessly affect those relationships.

Had Bhelpuri's "hero" stayed in the US to take his legal lumps, he would have a better case for both whistleblowing and "martyrdom." Instead he put himself in the hands of not one but two countries' intelligence services. The only sensible member of the Snowdon family is his father, who is trying to negotiate a way for his son to return. In this, he is opposed by Wikileaks, which of course has its own agenda, one which apparently prefers to see Snowdon as a man without a country.

9562. arkymalarky - 7/4/2013 6:15:31 PM

As someone who generally thinks Anonymous is a good thing and Aaron Schwartz was right, I tend to agree with Wombat here. I feel the same way about Manning and Assange. But part of the issue IMO is also carelessness and even sloppiness on the part of the government art its hiring, security of info within and among its ranks, and a lack of clarity as to how that security relates to its goals and missions. There are tech whizzes who are certainly talented enough to drop out of high school and contract out as government employees making six figures. But are they the best hires on the basis of their tech talent? Or should there at least be a different set of security policies so as not to miss out on top talent but not be as vulnerable? There are other concerns that the Snowden incident reveals which need to be addressed, whether people agree with him or not.

9563. arkymalarky - 7/4/2013 6:17:24 PM

Wrt, not art

9564. judithathome - 7/4/2013 7:07:42 PM

American media purposefully avoiding,

Since your link didn't work, I can only assume you are referring to the Bolivian President's plane being denied air space over Europe.

American media didn't avoid it at all...at least not the cable TV news stations I watch.

9565. judithathome - 7/4/2013 7:08:38 PM

Clarification: your link didn't work for me

9566. Wombat - 7/4/2013 7:31:19 PM

As someone who has his share of issues with security clearances, I agree, Arky.

9567. vonKreedon - 7/4/2013 8:26:30 PM

Yeah, I'm with Wombat and Judith wrt Snowden. He should have stayed in the US and certainly shouldn't have placed himself and his intel in the hands of the Chinese and Russians.

9568. judithathome - 7/4/2013 9:46:11 PM

Personally, I think this guy has visions of grandeur about himself. And they are sorely misplaced.

He could have gone a much more sane route in exposing what he considers to be criminal behavior in the government.

He also should have had a plan in mind for what would be coming down on his head after he blew the whistle. For him to whine about being a man without a country and blaming the President for it is ludicrous...he chose this path...the fact it's full of ruts and leading nowhere is on him, no one else.

His father allegedly made some remark about his son exposing "the road to tyranny" taking place in this country...funny that he and his son never complained about the tyrannical actions of the former administration. (That we know of, anyhow.)

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