Spy on the government
A few small thoughts, loosely joined:
Item: I think video cellphones are going to change the world. YouTube is the citizen journalism Dan Gillmor has so often waxed philosophically about. It’s just a lot messier than I assume he envisioned. This occurred to me tonight after watching Andrew Meyer egg a throng of cops into tasing him.
Item: The government very much wants to spy on us without getting a warrant. They want this super-constitutional power even while saying things like “fewer than 100 Americans have become surveillance targets” and “no Americans had been targeted for warrantless eavesdropping since [National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell] took over the job in February”. (Of course this is the same Mike McConnell who was recently caught lying about warrantless domestic spying helping foil a terror plot in Germany.)
Can I just ask why if so few people are being actively watched by the government, does the government need the ability to spy on them without a warrant?
What this all makes me think is that we all need to step our efforts in spying on our government. I’m totally serious. Think cryptome times everyone with a camera.
Item: I just don’t buy Orwellian throwbacks like Cory Doctorow’s recent piece: What if Google were Evil? At no point did any of the characters use the new media tools and power afforded to them to combat authoritarianism. The main character threatens, “I’ll go to the press.” Oh, how quaint.
I want to read the story of one person who stands in defiance of a government out of control with only a blog—and foments revolution (or dies trying).
Maybe with a guitar perhaps even a cowbell, but with a blog? I doubt it.