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New Study Shows Mass Surveillance Breeds Meekness, Fear and Self-Censorship

TheDemSocialist

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A newly published study from Oxford’s Jon Penney provides empirical evidence for a key argument long made by privacy advocates: that the mere existence of a surveillance state breeds fear and conformity and stifles free expression. Reporting on the study, the Washington Post this morningdescribed this phenomenon: “If we think that authorities are watching our online actions, we might stop visiting certain websites or not say certain things just to avoid seeming suspicious.”
The new study documents how, in the wake of the 2013 Snowden revelations (of which 87% of Americans were aware), there was “a 20 percent decline in page views on Wikipedia articles related to terrorism, including those that mentioned ‘al-Qaeda,’ “car bomb’ or ‘Taliban.'” People were afraid to read articles about those topics because of fear that doing so would bring them under a cloud of suspicion. The dangers of that dynamic were expressed well by Penney: “If people are spooked or deterred from learning about important policy matters like terrorism and national security, this is a real threat to proper democratic debate.”

The fear that causes self-censorship is well beyond the realm of theory. Ample evidence demonstrates that it’s real – and rational. A study from PEN America writers found that 1 in 6 writers had curbed their content out of fear of surveillance and showed that writers are “not only overwhelmingly worried about government surveillance, but are engaging in self-censorship as a result.” Scholars in Europe have been accused of being terrorist supporters by virtue of possessing research materials on extremist groups, while British libraries refuse to house any material on the Taliban for fear of being prosecuted for material support for terrorism.


Read more @: New Study Shows Mass Surveillance Breeds Meekness, Fear and Self-Censorship

The consequences of mass surveillance... This should come as a surprise to almost no one. The surveillance state is detrimental and needs to be undone as soon as possible.
 
Read more @: New Study Shows Mass Surveillance Breeds Meekness, Fear and Self-Censorship

The consequences of mass surveillance... This should come as a surprise to almost no one. The surveillance state is detrimental and needs to be undone as soon as possible. [/FONT][/COLOR]

That is not really surprising, as one needs to know that the government is being closely monitored and controlled. But if that is happening? Where is the problem? I worked for years in video watched offices, where every phone call was recorded. You want to make sure that the controllers are well controlled, sure. But otherwise? No problem at all.
 
That is not really surprising, as one needs to know that the government is being closely monitored and controlled. But if that is happening? Where is the problem? I worked for years in video watched offices, where every phone call was recorded. You want to make sure that the controllers are well controlled, sure. But otherwise? No problem at all.

So the government is being "closely monitored and controlled"?
 
So the government is being "closely monitored and controlled"?

I have pointed out a number of times here and to you that it is absolutely necessary to use data collection and mining that new technology makes possible. But that this changes the balance of power within the existing system of checks and balances. So we need to also increase the methods and intensity of controlling the controllers ie bureaucracies and politicians.

It is a major problem that people hang themselves up with complaining about the amount of data collected instead of puttin pressure on their politicians to install better controls on government.
 
I have pointed out a number of times here and to you that it is absolutely necessary to use data collection and mining that new technology makes possible. But that this changes the balance of power within the existing system of checks and balances. So we need to also increase the methods and intensity of controlling the controllers ie bureaucracies and politicians.

It is a major problem that people hang themselves up with complaining about the amount of data collected instead of puttin pressure on their politicians to install better controls on government.
1.)What kind of "controls"?
2.)What happens if these controls never come about and the politicians never implement them?
3.)As we can see that "controls" sometimes never work, hence the CIA and NSA were still breaking/skirting the law/regulations/controls..
 
"There was of course no way of knowing whether
you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system,
the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was
even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate
they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live — did
live, from habit that became instinct — in the assumption that every sound you
made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."
1984 by George Orwell

How was Solzhenitsyn's behavior before the glaring eyes of the Stalinist state?
 
1.)What kind of "controls"?
2.)What happens if these controls never come about and the politicians never implement them?
3.)As we can see that "controls" sometimes never work, hence the CIA and NSA were still breaking/skirting the law/regulations/controls..

I take it from the questions that that is not, what you want.
 
Read more @: New Study Shows Mass Surveillance Breeds Meekness, Fear and Self-Censorship

The consequences of mass surveillance... This should come as a surprise to almost no one.
The surveillance state is detrimental and needs to be undone as soon as possible.
[/FONT][/COLOR]



I'm sure that the 30,000 to 40,000 people who work for the NSA and read every word that we type will be interested to hear that.

:lol:

Don't be surprised if your internet service speed slows down a little bit.
 
Between the drugs we are administered and the surveillance practices of the state, it's no wonder that the citizenry is so well indoctrinated and timid, asking no questions, in a permanent state of suspended disbelief. :shock:
 
Between the drugs we are administered and the surveillance practices of the state, it's no wonder that the citizenry is so well indoctrinated and timid, asking no questions, in a permanent state of suspended disbelief. :shock:
interesting because the people that I know are exactly the opposite
 
interesting because the people that I know are exactly the opposite

Yes, you're right--there are a few good men in Congress, and a few citizens who are curious and ask questions. In each case, distinct minorities in the larger class. Very damn few ask questions, most accept what they are told as being the truth.
 
I have pointed out a number of times here and to you that it is absolutely necessary to use data collection and mining that new technology makes possible. But that this changes the balance of power within the existing system of checks and balances. So we need to also increase the methods and intensity of controlling the controllers ie bureaucracies and politicians.

It is a major problem that people hang themselves up with complaining about the amount of data collected instead of puttin pressure on their politicians to install better controls on government.

Why is it absolutely necessary? For some reason we managed to be secure in our papers and persons for a couple hundred years prior to this new technology existing.

Putting pressure on government by the citizens is a joke. The only pressure available is to prevent data mining is to stop it before it happens.
 
Yes, you're right--there are a few good men in Congress, and a few citizens who are curious and ask questions. In each case, distinct minorities in the larger class. Very damn few ask questions, most accept what they are told as being the truth.

maybe it's just my generation but all through school I was taught to question everything

also in debate class we would have to tell our current belief on a topic and then we would have to always argue the other side

I will be eternally grateful for that type of schooling as it has enriched my world.

I do have to confess though, sometimes i do admire those who grab onto a point and won't let it go ... it seems the easier route, the more secure ground...the ground doesn't shift at all

problem is when it goes, it completely collapses I guess
 
maybe it's just my generation but all through school I was taught to question everything

also in debate class we would have to tell our current belief on a topic and then we would have to always argue the other side

I will be eternally grateful for that type of schooling as it has enriched my world.

I do have to confess though, sometimes i do admire those who grab onto a point and won't let it go ... it seems the easier route, the more secure ground...the ground doesn't shift at all

problem is when it goes, it completely collapses I guess

I'm guessing you've never served in the military, and thus have never been exposed to its indoctrination. Which is really just becoming part of a team, serving a larger goal, rather like becoming part of the Borg, if you're into Star Trek.

When the individual becomes part of a larger collective is, IMO, when the individual is trained to follow orders and ask no questions. That dynamic can be achieved in a number of ways, and constant exposure to media propaganda is one way.

Mass surveillance is a more subtle form of quashing dissent and curiosity. When treated as a herd, humans easily respond as a herd.
 
I'm guessing you've never served in the military, and thus have never been exposed to its indoctrination. Which is really just becoming part of a team, serving a larger goal, rather like becoming part of the Borg, if you're into Star Trek.

When the individual becomes part of a larger collective is, IMO, when the individual is trained to follow orders and ask no questions. That dynamic can be achieved in a number of ways, and constant exposure to media propaganda is one way.

Mass surveillance is a more subtle form of quashing dissent and curiosity. When treated as a herd, humans easily respond as a herd.
you are right, I would never have been good in the military, not because I am a rebel, (I am a bit) but because even as a kid I always had to know why...then I had to access if "why" justified the whatever. If it did I was good to go, if it didn't I would challenge and I didn't care who it was I was challenging because it was not a fight or a rebellion it was just a need to know more about the why.

A group that asks no questions has its place and can be good for some things I guess but only at a certain low level. I think when more people question in depth even the military will grow and evolve in the way in which they train and operate. It will be more effective long term and the goal will not be mass blood shed but merely to end certain occurrences.

The exposure to media propaganda with few relevant facts has already arrived... smooth slick and simple, for the fearful to ingest and digest

you have to develop the fear first and then bingo...manipulation becomes relatively simple

mass surveillance, I am still pondering this one
 
Why is it absolutely necessary? For some reason we managed to be secure in our papers and persons for a couple hundred years prior to this new technology existing.

Putting pressure on government by the citizens is a joke. The only pressure available is to prevent data mining is to stop it before it happens.

The problem is that this is a powerful technology that is disruptive. If only others use it, the relative distribution of power will shift to them. Players like Russia, ISIS or the Mafia have begun to employ it in many forms to their purposes and we can see even now, how it is effecting our position.
 
I'd submit for consideration that excessive PC foolishness is going the same thing, causing fear and self-censorship.

Excessive eye rolling going on right now :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
 
Excessive eye rolling going on right now :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Why? You do not consider the observation of the effect of the politically correct movement as causing the fear and self-censorship?
 
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