General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: it isn't the legalities...it's the betrayal that's pissing people off [View all]bhikkhu
(10,707 posts)I wonder if it is a generational thing. I was born in the mid-sixties, so I was brought up in some fear of "the bomb". While I was never afraid of communists or communism (as many people older than me seem to have been), I grew up with a world-view colored by a very combative international situation, completely polarized between two ideologies. Of course there was spying and surveillance of all kinds, as much as technology would allow.
I always assumed that communication via public utilities (telephone lines, radio and so forth) was monitored, or could be monitored. Public stuff is public, and you can't expect to have a private conversation in a public place. We've had extensive intelligence networks in place since WWII. What do people think they've been doing?
Perhaps younger people just never got the idea that the world isn't necessarily peaceful, and that there is always some underlying struggle for advantage between nations, even when (or especially when) there is no actual war. Everyone knows Israel has extensive spy networks here. What do people think they do? They work toward their own national interests, the same as everyone else.
The US intelligence networks work toward our national interests. I can't imagine fearing them, as a US citizen, even when bush was president. I can't imagine caring if someone reads my emails (the internet - another "public" place) or keeps track of phone calls...I would venture to say that more harm might be done by lack of intelligence, by making guesses, by not having anything to go on, by simply getting the wrong guys, - than by an efficient working intelligence system.
But maybe that's just my age. I keep coming across shock and surprise at stuff I've taken for granted for years. Again, what did people think our intelligence system was doing?