General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: NSA Staffer: Snowden Didn't Dupe Coworkers Out of Passwords [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)I am saying that the point in collecting all that metadata and other information may well be to have the information needed to blackmail people.
That is how totalitarian governments and their intelligence arms work.
Many Americans are so inexperienced and so ignorant of history that they naively trust the government and its agents to be trustworthy in all cases. Again, it is simply naive to trust any government that much. It is especially naive to trust a government that has had to admit to hiding facts, lying and keeping secrets concerning the collection of data on you. Just naive.
Whether the surveillance program is necessary or justified depends on weighing its benefits against not the damage it has been proved to have inflicted already but against the potential damages.
What are the potential benefits if any?
What are the potential risks if any?
In my view, the potential risks far outweigh the potential benefits. That is where I disagree with the apologists for the program.
As I have said so many times before, based on my knowledge of history and my experience living in Europe and talking to many survivors of WWII and Communism in various countries, I think that we should not take the risk of entrusting our intelligence apparatus to have so much information about our personal lives. It is unnecessary, and the risk that the information will be used wrongly, possibly even be used to destroy what is left of democracy and free enterprise in our country, is far greater than any gain it could provide.