In Germany this new Pirate Party is comming out of nowwhere to cross the 5% hurdle to get parlimentary representation.
They recently had a party Congress. Two issues are very important to them, Data Protection and Government Transparency.
I think that these to issues are somewhat contrridictary.
There is no clear line in which one can say privacy is good for this institution and bad for this institution. Institutions are on a continuem. There is the government which is supposed to represent everyone. Obviuosly secrecy in governmental instutions is harmful to democratic developement. But then there are political parties who all want to promote an agenda against other political parties.
By making their future tactics known to everyone they give a huge advantage to their opponents. Then there are intrest groups and politcal caususes that try to promote one or perhaps two issues who have the same problem. Followed by corporations that certianly play a public function. Why should what goes on in a corprate boardroom be private.
The probelm with the a police organization monitoring events is that they work for the intrests of the 1% and not the rest of us. It is a perfectly legitimate act to gather info for the 99%. The only difference between a newspaper or TV reporter and a spy is who they report the information that the learn to.
I say down with privacy. Political public gatherings should be monitored. Corporate board meetings should be
monitored. Internet discussions should be monitored.
As a former Libertarian who was involved with the party from 1978 to 1994 I used to say all the time that those peopel who are willing to trade thier liberty for security will have niether. It may not seem that giving up our liberty is exactly what I am proprosing.
ACtually that is exactly not what I am proposing. If people want to be free they have to defend that freedom.
An easy step to defending that freedom is that you should be willing to say what you thing even though you know that you are being monitored by a government official and even though you are saying something that those who lead the government will not like.
It is just as easy to lose your security and freedom and life at the hands of non governmental actors as it is governmental actors. The little ditto that I used to repeat
for so many years is nonsense. Privacy is a threat to the health and well being of everyone.
There are perhaps exceptions though. In a time of war a nation certainly does not need to make its planned strategies and tactics public. In that case there is an imminate clear and present danger to the public safety.
It is being reported on German Yahoo that it was reported on some German Newspaper that IF the USK attacks Iran Iran will
TRY to launch attacks against US military facilities here in Germany.
Yet the Headline to the article reads, Iran planning attacks in Germany. That is certianly not a misleading headline now is it?
How do these bozoos get thier jobs?
In any country some people might join the military officer ranks to serve the people. Those who advance through the the ranks are those who learn to serve the Generals. The Generals are also be serving the intrests of the people.
Shezaam, such a system really works for the people and those in the military understand this otherwise they would not be in the military now would they?
I tried to tell some Americans last year that I read a European projection of a likely two meter rise in sea level by 2100 and they accused me of being a foolish alarmist. They figured a two foot rise would be the worst that could be
expected.
To add to what Alec wrote, if we are going to drive cars why do the Chinese and Koreans need to make cars for the Europeans and North Americans? Should they not keep the cars that they make in Asia, where they were built? I am not against Asians having jobs and making a decent wage but is world trade for things other than things like foods that only grow in certian climates or metals that are only found in a few places, in the long run, really neccessary? We know how to make cars and electronic gadgets here too.
In Germany this new Pirate Party is comming out of nowwhere to cross the 5% hurdle to get parlimentary representation.
They recently had a party Congress. Two issues are very important to them, Data Protection and Government Transparency.
I think that these to issues are somewhat contrridictary.
There is no clear line in which one can say privacy is good for this institution and bad for this institution. Institutions are on a continuem. There is the government which is supposed to represent everyone. Obviuosly secrecy in governmental instutions is harmful to democratic developement. But then there are political parties who all want to promote an agenda against other political parties.
By making their future tactics known to everyone they give a huge advantage to their opponents. Then there are intrest groups and politcal caususes that try to promote one or perhaps two issues who have the same problem. Followed by corporations that certianly play a public function. Why should what goes on in a corprate boardroom be private.
The probelm with the a police organization monitoring events is that they work for the intrests of the 1% and not the rest of us. It is a perfectly legitimate act to gather info for the 99%. The only difference between a newspaper or TV reporter and a spy is who they report the information that the learn to.
I say down with privacy. Political public gatherings should be monitored. Corporate board meetings should be
monitored. Internet discussions should be monitored.
As a former Libertarian who was involved with the party from 1978 to 1994 I used to say all the time that those peopel who are willing to trade thier liberty for security will have niether. It may not seem that giving up our liberty is exactly what I am proprosing.
ACtually that is exactly not what I am proposing. If people want to be free they have to defend that freedom.
An easy step to defending that freedom is that you should be willing to say what you thing even though you know that you are being monitored by a government official and even though you are saying something that those who lead the government will not like.
It is just as easy to lose your security and freedom and life at the hands of non governmental actors as it is governmental actors. The little ditto that I used to repeat
for so many years is nonsense. Privacy is a threat to the health and well being of everyone.
There are perhaps exceptions though. In a time of war a nation certainly does not need to make its planned strategies and tactics public. In that case there is an imminate clear and present danger to the public safety.
It is being reported on German Yahoo that it was reported on some German Newspaper that IF the USK attacks Iran Iran will
TRY to launch attacks against US military facilities here in Germany.
Yet the Headline to the article reads, Iran planning attacks in Germany. That is certianly not a misleading headline now is it?
How do these bozoos get thier jobs?
In any country some people might join the military officer ranks to serve the people. Those who advance through the the ranks are those who learn to serve the Generals. The Generals are also be serving the intrests of the people.
Shezaam, such a system really works for the people and those in the military understand this otherwise they would not be in the military now would they?
I tried to tell some Americans last year that I read a European projection of a likely two meter rise in sea level by 2100 and they accused me of being a foolish alarmist. They figured a two foot rise would be the worst that could be
expected.
To add to what Alec wrote, if we are going to drive cars why do the Chinese and Koreans need to make cars for the Europeans and North Americans? Should they not keep the cars that they make in Asia, where they were built? I am not against Asians having jobs and making a decent wage but is world trade for things other than things like foods that only grow in certian climates or metals that are only found in a few places, in the long run, really neccessary? We know how to make cars and electronic gadgets here too.