Snowden worked in that environment for a number of years, doing what he was doing every day. Did he grow a conscience all of a sudden or did he just think that he would get fame and notoriety, and live out his days on a beach in Equador. Whether anyone thinks that spying is right or not, Snowden is a chancer who did what he did because he applications to Wife Swap and Come Dine with me was rejected.
Frankie, I'm not sure you aren't just on one big fucking wind-up here but even if you are right about Snowden doesn't that just strengthen the case for saying the kinds of agencies he worked for (both government and private) should be allowed to collect only the most necessary information and under the strictest controls? The less data they are allowed to have, the less they can use it for and the fewer people they are allowed to share it with the better in my view.
Lets look at this comment - "The IT industry is full of these social misfits and the next time one of them tries to get a girlfriend by releasing a load of private data I'd prefer it if what they have on me is fuck all in the first place."
This is the arrogance of people when it comes to this subject that staggers me - what information will the government (or these private companies) have on you? I am pretty sure that if some techno nerd wants to get a girlfriend, he isn't going to try and do it by releasing information on your Internet history.
Whenever a terrorist attack happens people wonder what could have been done to prevent it, yet all these no marks are bitching about the fact that there is potential for the government to spy on them - like they would bother. Can no one see the benefits of this?
Of course there are some benefits. The trouble is history shows us that governments that spy on their own people are generally not considered that heallthy. McCarthyism, The NKVD under Stalin, Himmler's SS, etc. Just because we are the "good guys" does not mean that we are.
I'm a bit meh about it all as I'd think that the level of scrutiny that people are protesting about is already happening and is probably much greater than we can imagine.
As the Great Daevid Allen sang in 1979
Big Brother IBM
Watching you in the nude again
Better put on a disguise my friend
Fore they catagorize your rise again
Also I always liked this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRUthere has been loads of governments that have spied on people that have been considered healthy, but no one cares about them. Your examples of problems in the 30's and 40's (McCarthyism, The NKVD under Stalin, Himmler's SS) have no relevance to what is happening today, and many good, successful governments have been spying.
As to what Daevid Allen has to say on the matter, you might as well try and convince me with details on what Amanda Bynes thinks about the whole situation.
All those people who worked in those regimes thought what they were doing was acceptable, it's like the Baddies sketch. We look back and are appalled at what they did. Whats the difference with whats happening today?