[lbo-talk] Why Metadata Matters

Wojtek S wsoko52 at gmail.com
Tue Jul 30 05:31:53 PDT 2013


Good piece. The argument it presents is rather balanced and it underlines the success of the operation in catching criminals as well as concerns over privacy in government hands. So let me reiterate. I am not buying those concerns. Government information gathering is not an issue to me for two reasons.

First, private business has been already doing it for years, so the notion of privacy is a joke. We have none thanks to advertising industry. So not much is lost when government does it. And I trust government far more than I trust private business.

Second, government did not do anything bad to me, but there is a whole bunch of unsavory characters there who stole or want to steal my money and use me to advance their agenda. This is a real threat that makes a difference in my life. So I am not going to kvetch about government information gathering to catch the characters that want to hurt me. It would be irrational to do otherwise.

And one more thing. I despise American individualist, anti institutional ideology and petite bourgeois sentiments on which it is based. For that reason alone I would spite any anti government sentiment rather than go along with it.

Wojtek Sent from my Droid http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/06/verizon-nsa-metadata-surveillance-problem.html ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk



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