Xah Lee's Unixism

[jmfbahciv at aol.com]

In article <opsd2vlvy7pqzri1 at mjolner.upc.no>,
   "John Thingstad" <john.thingstad at chello.no> wrote:

There has been a request to [spit] these newsgroups.  Where
do you read from?  I'm over in a.f.c.

>On Thu, 09 Sep 04 13:12:17 GMT, <jmfbahciv at aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>> I really want to know.  People keep saying this but never say which
>> freedoms have been lost.
>>
>
>Since this is somewhat related to computer programming 
>and AI I will reply.

Thank you.  I appreciate the effort.

>
>The US has started a initiative to integrate all 
>information about people in the USA into a central database.

This is why I'm puzzled.  This stuff is nothing new; about
the only difference is the detail.  
>
>This includes confidential information like 
>your medical files. Think what  
>you say to your psychologist is confidential? 

It never was confidential.  People talk; doctors confer.  It
was off limits w.r.t. law enforcement but I think that had
more to do with not having to testify against yourself.
This still is not a freedom; it's a right that is listed.


> ..Think again. Being paranoid  
>can be enough to get a "red flag".
>They will have access to all your credit records 
>and will monitor all your  
>travels in and out of the country.
>If you buy flowers on the apposite side of town they can deduce that you  
>have a lover and
>use this as a means of distortion. (Edgar A. Hoover style)
>
>Initially this was just supposed to be used to monitor terrorist like  
>behaviour
>but now the FBI and CIA are also seeing the power of such a system.

Sure.  They had that kind of power and were abusing it in the 70s.
Both departments got the wings clipped.  Because they did get
reorg'ed back then, a lot of the work, that they are accused of not
doing after 9/11, didn't get done because they weren't allowed to
do that work.  Now Congress is shifting towards giving them
more leeway.  I sure as hell hope they remember Hoover and his
abuses of power before they suggest putting one guy over it all.
>
>The main challenge in computing is sieving through the amount of data.
>Politically it is to pressure the foreign governments to wave their  
>privacy protection acts and allow unlimited access to information to a  
>foreign power.

This won't happen.  Foreign governments will do whatever is in their
best interests as the US should do things in its best interests.

>
>Don't know what you think of this but it scares the hell out of me!

It should.  But this isn't a breach of freedom.  It is a breach
of privacy which can only be protected by each individual, not
the government.

See, people keep saying freedoms.  But I get confused and don't
consider these things freedoms.  In some very stretched cases,
I might consider them rights.


/BAH


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