Why we shouldn’t worry about Congress…
I was going to post something the other day about how Attorney General Gonzales wants ISPs to keep their records nearly indefinately in the guise of combatting child pornography.. and how that was yet another signal that Congress & the current administration is simply afraid of the internet.. and then talk about some other shizzle related to that..
But I didn’t.
And I’m glad I didn’t, because Ben Bleikamp did it far better than I could have with this post:
So why am I not worried?
See AlsoBecause soon the next generation of elected officials are going to be people my age, people who grew up with the internet, people who instant message their friends. In the next 10, 20, and 30 years the people that are elected to office are going to be people who ‘€œget’€? the internet, people who understand why net neutrality is important
Amen, brother. Amen.
Matt Craven is the former editor & publisher of The Blog Herald. Currently, Matt is the co-founder of Bryghtpath LLC, a consulting practice located in Woodbury, Minnesota. Matt's presently looking for new blogging gigs. Ping him at matt (at) bryghtpath dot com. You can follow him on Twitter.
Forget the next generation. The people in charge today (and unfortunately the laws are written to perpetuate the same people in office besides the President and VP) want an entire record of everything you do – your phone records, your credit card purchases, your Google searches, etc. This information might be helpful to combat terrorism, but watch for the abuses it will produce. Knowledge is power and power corrupts absolutely.
Personally, I don’t trust the Attorney General any farther than I can throw him. We would be wise to collectively oppose the arbitrary gathering of the private information of law abiding American citizens from this inevitable abuse by corrupt politicians.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no 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.
Hopefully these words will have meaning again one day…
A strict conservative does agrees with what you say Josh. A conservative wants less power for the government. While you didn’t mention republicans you alluded that republicans are the problem. I will bet you that if democrats/liberals get into power the problem will be much bigger. The liberals do not believe in individual rights and do believe in a bigger more powerful government.
A bigger problem to me is not the government, but big business. What are all these companies who care nothing about us and only care about shareholders doing with all this information? In the next 30 years you will see abuse by corporations against individuals or groups of people as the real problem.
Big Roy,
It’s both sides that are the problem. I just recall reading some of Gonzalez’s statements yesterday and he was the first one to come to mind (besides the Republicans are the ones in the majority these days anyway and can effectuate this legislation).
I agree with you about big business – look at all of the predatory lenders out there who are feasting on unsuspecting college freshmen, et al.
I believe it was Ben Franklin that said (paraphrasing really poorly here) when you give up liberty for security, you gain neither and lose both.