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Saturday, October 11, 2014

TED Talk: Why Privacy Matters

Speaking of Orwell, here is an outstanding Ted talk by Glenn Greenwald (h/t Jim).

Has the best response I've seen so far to the "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear from surveillance" argument. A statement so silly that I simply cannot take it seriously. Greenwald points out that those who say this don't really believe it and go to great effort to be sure that they are not subject to it.

But those who do claim loudly that they are "nice" people with nothing to hide (or who simply do not have the means to create their own personal privacy bubble)  make themselves into small, submissive  subservient citizens. And that is deadly for democracy.  As J.C. Scott put it in Two Cheers for Anarchism:
The implications of a life lived largely in subservience for the quality of citizenship in a democracy are also ominous. Is it reasonable to expect someone whose waking life is almost completely lived in subservience and who has acquired the habits of survival and self-preservation in such settings to suddenly become, in a town meeting, a courageous, independent-thinking, risk-taking model of individual sovereignty? 


11 comments:

Concerned Canadian said...

FYI:
Glenn Greenwald will be presenting in Toronto, Canada on Oct. 21 hosted by the Canadian Journalism Foundation. A reception will follow.

This is an excellent opportunity to hear and possibly speak with Mr Greenwald, and to network with serious journalists. Maybe pitch your own story ideas...

The event is in the Glenn Gould Theatre at CBC in dntown TO. Tkts are $40 includes a copy of Greenwald's new book.

For more info or to get tickets:
http://www.cjf-fjc.ca/j-talks/glenn-greenwald-conversation-david-walmsley

AtticusinCanada said...

Glenn is also appearing in Ottawa in Oct. Two Brockers will be there to ask questions if permitted about the privacy violations inherient in FATCA. I remarked to a news journalist from Global a while ago on that topic. Why are Americans so offended that the NSA is gathering up all their keystrokes, emails and phone calls when they seem non plussed at innocent people having all their bank account information being gathered up with no suspicion of wrong doing and no warrant? Information that can be "shared" with home land security. FINCIN, IRS and others. Think this information will not be misused? Think again. I will be very interested as to what Mr. Greenwald has to say about this since it's a big topic here in Canada and to my mind is far more over reaching than what home land Americans are subjected to.

Concerned Canadian said...

@AtticusinCanada,

FATCA should be put on Greenwald's radar. The Canada FATCA IGA is an intersection of:
- A human rights crisis caused by mandatory nationality discrimination (based upon place of birth) creating a new social strata of 2nd class Canadians (those born in the US); and
- A massive invasion of personal privacy involving the transfer of those affected Canadians' banking and financial information – not only to the Canadian government – but to foreign state, for the sole purpose of that foreign state's enrichment.

The big story hook is that right now, the lawsuit against the Canadian FATCA IGA is the ONLY STATEMENT OF CLAIM AGAINST FATCA IN THE WORLD filed in a national court.

On a practical note, suggest putting a collection of ADCS and other anti-FATCA documents (press releases, statement of claim, articles, links, etc) on CDROM or cheap USP sticks to pass along to journalists like Greenwald where ever they are met.

Anonymous said...

@ Concerned Canadian

Yes Yes Yes, We also need a central clearing house website to collect information to fight Fatca.
May be using Kickstart to start a website to help all Fatca victims.

All democrats should run and tell their candidates about this crazy Fatca thing has to go if they want to win any senate seats.

All Republicans know what to do.


Mick said...

Hello everyone,

Watch for AEoI that is hidden.

http://haydonperryman.com/2014/10/02/is-fatca-failing-here-is-my-reply-haydon-perryman/

We need to tell everyone the Police State is coming if we are not careful.

Just Me said...

@Mick...

AEoI or GATCA is not hidden. It is in plain sight with the OECD pushing it hard. It is just that the media bother not to report on it...

@Victoria...

You might enjoy this podcast on privacy that was recently on NPR Ted Radio Hour....

http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/265352348/the-end-of-privacy?showDate=2014-09-26

Mick said...

@ just me

Thanks.

We shall push back all these Fatca and Gatca craps before it is too late.

All these tax and regulations will destroy all the creativity and suck fun out of life. The future generation will be suffocated by all these nonsensical laws.

Inaka Nezumi said...

Glenn is so inspiring here. I think I have a new hero. I'll have to start reading more of his stuff.

I imagine he is quite familiar with FATCA and CBT, seeing as he lives in Brazil.

FBAR is Wrong, Mark said...

Tired of commenting on someone else's article in WSJ or the lamestream? Write your own and spread your own link to your own work.
The first articles have garnered lots of hits! Generate some more and spread the anti-fatca word.

Spread the word
Post your anti #FATCA #FBAR #CBT article here!
bit.ly/1w0Ky6U

Victoria FERAUGE said...

@Nezumi-san, I agree. Very eloquent.

@Mark, YES. We need more voices. More stories.

DL NELSON said...

Thank you for the post. He is inspirational