What would Benjamin Franklin say?
With the admission by Edward Snowden that he is the source of leaks about top-secret government surveillance programs, the ongoing debate over security-based government snooping versus individual rights has gotten even more complicated.
We all want our safety secured, and we all want our liberty preserved, and common sense tells us we can’t have the absolute of each simultaneously.
Here’s what worries me:
First of all, let us be realistic and reasonable enough to acknowledge that:
(1) The National Security Agency has been surveilling all manner of personal communications for years and we all knew it. In fact, that is the agency’s stated purpose for existence.
(2) In this digital age, there is no privacy. It is so pronounced that the only way credit card companies keep us all as customers is by indemnifying us against fraudulent use by credit card thieves. Last week I looked at a pair of shoes on a department store’s website and that same pair of shoes appeared at the top of my Facebook page next time I looked.
So everything we do, look at or buy is recorded somewhere and shared with someone. Okay. A year or so ago I bought a book on Amazon about Mohammed and his legacy, written by a friend of mine who is a professor of Islamic studies at Cornell. Now, for obvious reasons, the FBI knows exactly who I am and therefore God knows how many databases I am on. Some of the things John Douglas and I have written have been critical of Bureau actions and the investigative missteps of other departments and agencies, which means we are probably on more than one “bad” or “watch” lists.
Since the immense volume of data necessitates that all of this surveillance is based on pattern recognition algorithms, what happens if one particular algorithm connects my apparent interest in Islam with the fact that I have written things critical of the FBI or CIA? Is someone going to knock on my door in the middle of the night or take me away for questioning?
The logical response is that any background check would reveal me to be a law-abiding citizen who is tough on law and order issues and is generally highly supportive or our criminal justice and intelligence establishments. But we also know that that is not always the way the system works. Individual data point can have outsize significance if the dots are not connected, and we know from 9/11 all the way up to the Boston Marathon bombing that dots many times are not connected.
I’m not saying we don’t need surveillance or that what Mr. Snowden did was a great public service. And anyone who compares him to Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers in the 1970’s, does not understand the critical differences in the two situations. What I am saying, as anyone who has read Law & Disorder will know, is that our law enforcement systems are not foolproof, mistakes are made and one piece of evidence out of context can still be used to confirm an already existing bias or point of view.
So if we’re going to be snooping into all of the measurable and recordable metrics of every individual’s life, we’d better be pretty damn careful about it. Because as Mr. Franklin wrote in his memoirs:
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
http://freepatriot.org/2013/08/02/edward-snowdens-father-sends-open-letter-to-president-obama-calling-him-out-for-crimes/?fb_source=pubv1
I’m so glad you made that point! Okay, it’s true I have some “old hippie” in me, and we always believed the government had all kinds of access to our personal lives, but like you say, beyond that — HELLO! Internet! How could anyone not believe the government has access to whatever they need on the internet? Crikey, I am one of the most careful people I know not to use my name online, I’m not on Facebook because it forces you to use your real name, and I stopped using Google apps when their privacy policy became a complete misnomer. But a couple of months ago, some of my photos stored online got thrown up, apparently, on anyone on Facebook who knew me. I don’t even know how. I have been meticulous to withdraw permissions. I can’t believe the stink about this deal considering the free-wheeling information sharing 93% of us are doing voluntarily on a daily basis. Yes, it’s bad enough anywhere I go will put up a photo of some product I was searching for recently, but it’s quite another for it to go tell my friends and business associates I’m looking at adult diapers.
Dear Mr. Olshaker,
I have no problem with the way our government helps themselves in keeping our country safe, but the fact is it is not. This past year alone we all know our nation has endured some of it’s greatest threats, posing questions and signifying we have a responsibility. So therefore, if the government feels it’s use of the Patriot Act is a one way street, it is not. The government seems to think law enforcement is reserved only for those with credentials. For the most part it is but let us face the facts, our safety is our own to create and we all need assistance in ensuring that safety for others, the government should not simply snoop on citizens who are critical of it. It should take specific steps toward organizing and classifying those issues and responding as needed. I think to often the FBI wants to believe it has everything under control and doesn’t need our input. I dislike that a great deal because it puts lives at risk, all the while they are just monitoring citizens loyal to the law and the country. Meanwhile, 22 children are killed and six teachers. It seems counter-productive and it is very frustrating.
Monitor the hell out of us, but if in the end the blow comes from elsewhere they need to communicate. We all need to ensure each others safety and justice not just those with badges.
My last question is the location of the last man responsible for the murder of your friends son. Where are we at finding this son of a bitch? Sorry but his actions are the same ones anyone of us would have taken and they were nothing short of heroic, we owe that man and his family justice. All of us do, he would have given his life for anyone of us, so FBI should I not do the same?
God Bless you Mr. Olshaker.
The latest information we have is that the Bahamian police have several suspects in custody. As Rick Bruner wrote, “Mark, they now have four men in custody and are searching for a fifth in connection to my son’s murder. It appears this was a criminal gang that police think were behind dozens, maybe hundreds of armed robberies in Nassau over the past few years. The outrage over his death brought people forward to give information to the police, which has allowed them to extend the investigation and find the other members of the gang, all of whom are being charged with murder.”
We hope there will be a complete investigation, a speedy and efficient trial, and the justice this brave young man deserves.
Very well stated Mr. Olshaker.
Thanks, Karen.