Thursday, March 16, 2017

Government surveillance

Just heard an IT professional call the Hugh Hewett show (98.9 FM Columbus, 6-9 a.m.) during a discussion of government surveillance the history of which went back to Nixon. His advice: Just as "all guns are loaded" is a precautionary warning, so also "all electronic devices can watch us." 
 
The government is not just collecting metadata, but content. In my opinion, the larger the company, the more likely they are to allow government snooping--helps cut out the competition if they cooperate. It's not real time in your social media, the algorithms of Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter are manipulated to influence your thinking and judgement. Whether you're Tea Party or Black Lives Matter, someone in government is watching and collecting data. Facebook cooperated with the Chinese Communists which by law allows that snooping, so why would it not cooperate with NSA or CIA? Yahoo allowed government perusal of users emails. I don't generally recommend Wikipedia, but look at The Church Committee for a little history.
 
So why are some assuming candidate Trump wasn't the subject of surveillance by the Obama administration?

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