Thank you for your continued coverage of this subject. One chilling side effect of government surveillance that hasn't been mentioned in the press is the self-censoring of
dissent. A few weeks ago, before the latest revelations, I wrote a comment on a NYT article in which I criticized the government's use of torture, drone attacks and assassinations. When the eavesdropping programs were made public, I remembered my comment and wondered if my remark and others like it, written by similarly disaffected
individuals, would result in being put on an "enemies list." Does the New York Times hand over the email addresses of its commenters to the N.S.A.? A while back I would have considered such a question utterly crazy; now I'm not so sure. Just the fact that people might think
twice about public criticism of the government is one more erosion of our freedom.
Reading comments in other forums, I am dishearted by the number of people who believe that government surveillance of the type that Snowden exposed is perfectly fine. It isn't fine; it's monstrous. The American people are so afraid of Al Qaeda's taking away their freedom that they're surrendering it voluntarily.
Thank you again, and please keep up the good work.
Thank you for this extremely interesting article. I note that "the United States has pledged ONLY $205,000,000 to the program." Emphasis mine.
Dear Prof. Cole,
Thank you for your continued coverage of this subject. One chilling side effect of government surveillance that hasn't been mentioned in the press is the self-censoring of
dissent. A few weeks ago, before the latest revelations, I wrote a comment on a NYT article in which I criticized the government's use of torture, drone attacks and assassinations. When the eavesdropping programs were made public, I remembered my comment and wondered if my remark and others like it, written by similarly disaffected
individuals, would result in being put on an "enemies list." Does the New York Times hand over the email addresses of its commenters to the N.S.A.? A while back I would have considered such a question utterly crazy; now I'm not so sure. Just the fact that people might think
twice about public criticism of the government is one more erosion of our freedom.
Reading comments in other forums, I am dishearted by the number of people who believe that government surveillance of the type that Snowden exposed is perfectly fine. It isn't fine; it's monstrous. The American people are so afraid of Al Qaeda's taking away their freedom that they're surrendering it voluntarily.
Thank you again, and please keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Susan Toyofuku
Bettona, Italy
The correct AJC link is http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/crime/ga-murder-case-uncovers-terror-plot-by-soldiers/nRLD5/