As Long As You're Not Doing Anything Wrong, You Have Nothing To Worry About
as this is a common phrase and excuse used by people, (especially on here) i thought id post it in this forum.
.........
The phrase is endlessly used as an excuse to pass into everyday use policies and technology that are eroding our freedoms and giving our governments more control and responsibility over our lives are phrases such as "Why worry if you have nothing to hide?"
Tired cliche to cover big brother agenda doesn't wash anymore
I am personally sick of hearing the above phrase used whenever the latest surveillance tool is trotted out and used on the public as a means of control. It's worn out and doesn't work anymore. People are finally beginning to stop laughing at the madness of the big brother society, but will it be too late when people begin to see the seriousness of the threat?
Endlessly used as an excuse to pass into everyday use policies and technology that are eroding our freedoms and giving our governments more control and responsibility over our lives are phrases such as "Why worry if you have nothing to hide?"
Since when were long established civil liberties and the citizen's right to privacy replaced with this "new freedom", this "freedom lite" shall we call it, this guilty until proven innocent mantra?
The problem lies with what is considered to be "something to hide". I don't want to be filmed 24 hours a day, everywhere I go, does that mean I've got something to hide? I don't much like the idea of being fingerprinted if i want to go into a bar, does that mean I have got something to hide? Yes, if I am an enemy of the gestapo in the 1930s, but no if I am a free citizen in 21st century Britain or America.
Lets take a look at a few of the latest headlines to feature in our big brother news section:
"It's the first time anywhere in the United States that one of these big things has flown on an official air combat command mission," Steve Doocy noted. Brian Kilmeade followed up: "Well, you know what? I love it. They gotta be listening in, listening to the right people. If they're listening in at my house, they're gonna be bored to tears." Doocy jumped in to say that he "wasn't sure" that the drone could listen in, but "they can certainly see what's going on in your back yard. ... I don't think you have anything to worry about as long as you're not doing anything against the law."
Parents will be devalued and family privacy shattered by the mass surveillance of all 12 million children in England and Wales, says a report today commissioned by Parliament's Information Commissioner. In what is likely to be a major embarrassment to Tony Blair, it says proposals for a £224 million database containing details of every child will waste millions of pounds, undermine parental authority and actually put children in more danger. Mr Blair defended the super nanny idea saying it was right to give families a "helping hand". "No one's talking about interfering with normal family life," he added.
An anti-terrorist database used by the Defense Department in an effort to prevent attacks on military installations included intelligence tips about antiwar planning meetings held at churches, libraries, college campuses and other locations, newly disclosed documents show. McPhearson said he found the references to his group in the Talon database unsurprising and he said the group continued to use public settings and the Internet to plan its protests. "We don't have anything to hide," he said. "We're not doing anything illegal."
So in just three examples there, you could be watched in your own home by a military surveillance plane, all aspects of your kids' lives could be put on a database to make sure you are an adequate parent, and if you don't agree with a government policy you may be surveilled and placed on an anti-terrorist database. The information gathered will not be available to you but will be available to the government and the government's intelligence personnel.
Is all that OK so long as you have "nothing to hide"? Are you comfortable with that? Some may say "yeah but it probably won't happen to me." Well, you'll never know until your actions are deemed to be categorized by the authorities as "something wrong".
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There are those who still deny that we have moved into a big brother society and that it affects their lives at all. For those who immediately think this applies to them, please Watch this film
These people, far from living in denial, have just not noticed all the methods of surveillance that they are under. This is not surprising, given that the very essance of surveillance is that it is covert. It is not arrogant or elitist to say this, after all how many people really know what the TALON programme is or how RFID works?
This is the most dangerous aspect of the big brother society, the fact that it is creeping and that there is always scope for expansion. How many times is it relevant to say "this will not erode your liberties" about another form of surveillance? If you took every aspect of the big brother society featured in the film linked above and suddenly introduced it all at once into a society where it was unknown, would the people therein consider it to be a threat to their liberties?
I think they'd consider it to be an all out war on them.
There is a government ploy of saying that if you have nothing to hide in our modern society you should react to these measures by being bold, up front and proud that you are a law abiding citizen, you should revel in the big brother society and not shrink away and try to avoid it.
In this sense the new forms of technology being used for surveillance and information gathering are pushed as progressive and a step in the right direction when they are in fact the exact opposite. Strip away all the technology and the myth that they keep you any safer (put everything under surveillance and you end up missing the real threats) and you are essentially left with a never ending multiplication of methods of covertly gathering information on everything you do. In a dictatorship this is progressive, in a free society it is regressive.
"all aspects of your kids' lives could be put on a database to make sure you are an adequate parent"
Good. This will create less ******* kids in the world that grew up without parents. Should cut crime.
"and if you don't agree with a government policy you may be surveilled and placed on an anti-terrorist database."
That is a subtle way of putting it. If by "Dont agree with" you mean "riots and becomes a threat to the nation" then I dont see a problem with that. You act like if someone is talking to their friend and says "this war is bullshit" they will have the CIA ramming probes up their ass.
"The information gathered will not be available to you but will be available to the government and the government's intelligence personnel."
Ok...what information will they gather about me that I dont already know? Do they know what toilet paper I am using and they wont tell me?
"Is all that OK so long as you have "nothing to hide"? Are you comfortable with that?"
Yeah, because I have nothing to hide. And the people that do have stuff to hide will be caught.
I think you are living in a fantasy world were bad things only happen to bad people. The Heroes save the day and all the bad guys get caught and their is no injustice in the world.
__________________ Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.
- General George Patton Jr
Ah think of the benefits! With a good ski-mask on you can get to moon you government at every streetcorner. That off course untill they develop 'butt-scan software' but that's for the far future.
How is this a looney concept? Deano is right; it is the classic response of any fool when they are confronted with a set of directives that are overt attempts at gaining greater control of individual 'freedom'.
Sometimes, I think Deano gets a rough deal just because he chooses to believe in a different reality to some people. I don't agree with a lot the sources of his opinions, but when he comes up with a legitimate topic, let's discuss it. It's too easy to just lump it with all the other conspiracy stuff. Especially when this one has evidence backing-up how it is irrefutably based in our shared reality.
__________________ Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Deano, even when you're right about something, you're irritating. Please go away. Or at least write your own damn posts.
Still ... "As long as you're not a criminal, you shouldn't mind being treated like one." Yeh...
__________________ "Men curse the Communist Party, but eventually it may release them. If hell were endless, then God would be worse than our Secret Police."--Pastor Valentin
Last edited by Gregory on Nov 25th, 2006 at 02:30 AM
Yeah I hate how this line of thought leaves out people like me, who dont break the law but still dont want the government snooping on my phone calls and accessing my information.
and you are irritating to me, so leave the thread then please.
cheers krunk. a bit of common sense from the rest would be good aswell. its funny how they are quick to call me names and be offensive but cant see how patetic they are being in the process, and therefore,looking an idiot themselves. i dont mind but thats what happens to people who dont fall in line with the official view. everyone here thinks they are special because they have there little buddys to come and back them up. it makes them feel good.
yeh im a loon. great analysis. you hurt me.
and its no conspiracy though is it you fool. its a real issue. so shut up and leave if you cant handle it. ive said it before.
__________________
"How about this? Shut your mouth...Or I'll kick your teeth down your throat and shut it for you."
I find it odd you don't sense the irony in your own posts. It's not only the things you post but the way in which you post them that make you irritating. The way in which you are quick to label everyone that doesn't draw your conclusions and prescribe to your philosophy.
Everyone is a sheep. Everyone is blind. Everyone is a follower.
Except of course for you.
This may be a legitimate thread. It may not have any conspiracy tangent that you're ready and waiting to proclaim. But the fact that it's your topic, and that it's largely copy/paste material, makes it lose credibility as a legitimate thread.
"As long as you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about." is the mantra of the naive. My contribution to the thread. Enjoy.
Deano may be the local KMC-conspiracy-guy, but I agree it does not mean that EVERYTHING he says warrants someone calling a psychologist.
This topic is a very good example. The number of surveillance-cameras is growing by the minute. They’re everywhere now, from subways to public streets.
But, Deano, have you contemplated why people succumb to accepting them? Maybe it’s because ordinary people can’t DO anything about them. You and I know that the media is quick to point out the benefits: It lessens crime and “helps” fight terrorism (Yay, so now anyone against the Big brother society becomes a terrorist or supporter or half-way into Al-Queda or what have you), and we see interviews with old Mr. Jones who feels saver now.
And that is all fine and dandy. But do you, you who read this, know who is watching you? What happens with all the surveillance-tapes? And are all the cameras really necessary?
That brings me to the second thing Deano is pointing out. If you don’t agree with “this” you run the risk of being black-listed. WHO decides who’s a terrorist and who isn’t? There’s a movement here in DK who supports the Palestinians right to freedom from Israeli occupation. This group has been labelled “terrorists” by the Danish government.
With all the surveillance comes conformity whether you like it or not. And conformity kills individuality. WHO decides where the line is between freedom and “unwanted acts”?
A surveillance-camera is just that. A camera that surveys. It’s who decides what and where to survey, and how to react to what they see that worries me.
__________________ "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
-Voltaire
"That includes ruining Halloween because someone swallowed a Bible."
"I just thought you were a guy."
"... Most guys do."
Last time you told me to leave your thread, the thread died immediately after I did. Are you sure you want to risk it?
__________________ "Men curse the Communist Party, but eventually it may release them. If hell were endless, then God would be worse than our Secret Police."--Pastor Valentin
Frankly... If the poster and/or topic annoyes you why do you waste your time? I am sure you have better things to do.
__________________ "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
-Voltaire
"That includes ruining Halloween because someone swallowed a Bible."
"I just thought you were a guy."
"... Most guys do."
Deano annoys me, yes. But since he rarely bothers to participate meaningfully in his own threads, it's not like I'm picking a conversation with him by posting here. And the topic doesn't annoy me; I think it's quite important.
I just think that Deano brings a bit of conspiracy-theory paranoia to any topic he touches. For example, he mentions that the government is using the anti-terrorist database to track peaceful war protests! What an outrage! I'll just click on the link to get the details and ... uh ... I see by your link, Deano, that they've deleted well over a hundred of these entries, purged over a thousand more, and officially appologised.
The horror, the horror!
Just lines later, Deano claims that "and if you don't agree with a government policy you may be surveilled and placed on an anti-terrorist database." Of course, he's free not to believe the government when they say they're not doing this any more, but to act like it's a fact that it's still going on is just dishonest.
As I said, this is an important topic. Too damn important to let conspiracy theory nutbars lead the debate.
__________________ "Men curse the Communist Party, but eventually it may release them. If hell were endless, then God would be worse than our Secret Police."--Pastor Valentin
Last edited by Gregory on Nov 25th, 2006 at 04:05 PM
Well, then... Gregory... What's you thoughts ON the topic then?
__________________ "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
-Voltaire
"That includes ruining Halloween because someone swallowed a Bible."
"I just thought you were a guy."
"... Most guys do."
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Nov 24th, 2006 08:47 PM
