The failure of the panoptican state.
Posted on June 14, 2013 | By Chris Gale | 0 responses
It is one of those times when the over reach of Washington is apparent. The example they have is remarkably illuminating. Sincce 9/11, they have increased the surveillance of the US population, as has the UK, where in London you are continually watched. The NSA has been monitoring the emails, files within the cloud… for many corporations, and (interestingly) prosecuting for piracy and wire fraud those (like MegaUpload) that they cannot get their little monitors into.
But this is all coming out.
Snowden, 29, told the South China Morning Post that he was not hiding from justice and that Hong Kong’s legal system would decide his fate.
The newspaper said he presented “unverified documents” describing a US computer campaign targeting Hong Kong and mainland China. He said: “We hack network backbones – like huge internet routers, basically – that give us access to the communications of hundreds of thousands of computers without having to hack every single one.”
Snowden claimed that the NSA has engaged in more than 61,000 hacking operations worldwide. The White House has accused China of hacking into US military and business computers. Chinese government officials have claimed that they are victims of similar cyber attacks.
Snowden is no fool. He is in a Chinese cultured area with British Law under the protection of the People’s Republic. He is not in a client state of the USA, where the FBI feel they can just come in and take someone, and he is in a highly populated area, where the use of drones will cause unacceptable collateral damage.
Now, SIGINT has its place, but so does human intelligence gathering. The state has a duty to protect its citizens. But not to remove freedoms. With freedom comes risk and personal responsibility. A camera can monitor, but it cannot prevent. And when minor acts of trangressions occur ina panoptican state, where everyone is watched, it’s clear that the noise in the system overwhelms whatever signal exists.
A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II has been defaced with spray paint at London’s Westminster Abbey. Police have arrested a man at the church on suspicion of vandalism.
Fathers 4 Justice, a protest group that campaigns on behalf of fathers denied contact with their children, said the arrested man was a member. It said he had written “Help” with paint on the picture in the abbey’s Chapter House.
“It was basically a dad that was desperate to see his kids in the run-up to Father’s Day,” Fathers 4 Justice campaign director Jolly Stanesby said. “He’s decided to ask for help.”
Stanesby said the action wasn’t an official protest organised by the group.
Police said a 41-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and taken to a London police station.
We should not trust the state. Those who hold the power of the state — of sword, taxation and litigation — should be continually monitored, for power has a corrupting effect. Instead we should trust the almighty. For he will hold us accountable, and he will destroy that which was beautiful when the signs of injustice are overwhelming.
1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
2 My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
4 Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. Selah
5 Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion. 8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed.
10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the LORD withhold from those who walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you.41As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
45Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; 46and he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.” 47Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; 48but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.
Jesus was more effective than that poor sod from Dads 4 Justice. He did not deface the temple. He drove out the moneychangers and the merchants. He attacked those who were producing injustice.
It would be much better — as a state — to monitor us less, have less laws, and then police them. To forget micromanaging peoples lives and thoughts. For that will not keep the peace. Regulated actions and speech make radicalism appear forbidden and attractive. Instead, let speech flow.
Let there be torrents of abuse. Let the hate be obvious. For in that the evil will become apparent, and a wise man will turn from that.
