Not as ashamed as I am as an American, whose nation is supposed to be at the forefront of individual liberty and as much freedom from government regulation of, involvement in, or monitoring of the average person's life as possible while still maintaining domestic order and performing the duties necessary to conduct foreign affairs.

The further the government of the US strays from and exceeds the powers and scope granted by it's Constitution, the worse things have and will get. Not only for the US and those in it, but for the entire world...economically, diplomatically, militarily,.and from the perspective of individual liberty and freedom as well.

Where does one seek asylum from persecution when the are no more nations of free people? If there are no more nations of free people, who will stand against the next insane megalomaniac tyrant bent on world domination? And, there *will* be another. Without fail. There always will be (at least until the human race achieves Ascension :) ). The rise and fall of such describes a large chunk of the entirety of human history from the beginnings of civilization until now.

My greatest fear is that the US collapses into a full-on totalitarian police state that sees foreign aggression as the only practical means at it's disposal to feed the beast, seeing as it's economy is shot, and becomes the next threat to the entire world like WW2 Germany, squared.

Strat

"Those who willingly surrender freedom for security deserve neither and will lose both."

Not a student of history or human nature, are you? That's always the refrain of the tyrant; "It's for your own good".

Such beliefs have fueled some of the most horrible atrocities in the history of mankind and killed many tens of millions of people.

A Panopticon that's only available to those in power guarantees those in power become tyrants and the citizens become slaves.

Strat

Except that this trend towards increased government surveillance of the general populace by government intelligence and LE agencies, often in blatant violation of their nations' own laws and founding documents & principles, is a global phenomenon, particularly in the West, and no longer limited to a handful of dictatorships and totalitarian nations.

Blowing this stuff off because "just switch to a foreign provider" is short-sighted.

Individual freedom around the world, particularly digital privacy/security against intrusive, and often illegal by their own laws, digital spying by governments against their own citizens, is on a downward trend as the US and other Western nations grow increasingly paranoid and authoritarian.

The struggle against such invasive surveillance must likewise be global as these regimes work together both in the actual surveillance and also on the political side to increase their scope and power ever further.

This is particularly true among "Five Eyes" nations like Australia. What good would it do to switch to using services outside the country you're in if all the practical alternatives are just as bad or worse?

Strat

Obvious AC whoosh is obvious.

Strat :)

If I'm going carry a scooter in a case, it's going to be a guitar case!!

Obvious username is obvious.

Strat

Well, duh!

The laws were passed and signed into law by the secret FISA Congress and the secret FISA POTUS, naturally!

I'm sure the secret FISA SCOTUS has already reviewed these laws and found them reasonable & necessary.

The Secret FISA VISA.

It's everywhere you want to spy!!

I wonder how long it will take for attacks on the NSA's and their contractors' workers by the public to start?

Strat

Not long.

Not long at all. At least, for something a bit less "sci-fi" (umm, "palm thrusters"?) but more practical for the real-world foot-soldier.

http://youtu.be/p2W23ysgWKI

But soon there will be very little need for large numbers of (human) infantry.

Atlas http://youtu.be/hFKVSLNyADk

Atlas rocky terrain and balance tests. http://youtu.be/S-WRjDsyL0s

Robot soldiers that won't question, lie, or disobey orders.

Every megalomaniacs' and oppressive police states' wet-dream.

What could possibly go wrong?

The only thing worse than a self-aware "Skynet" is a "Skynet" under human control. Machines don't enjoy needless cruelty and the deliberate infliction of pain & suffering for their own sakes.

Strat

"Nobody ever got fired for buying bipedal forklifts"?

Doesn't have the same ring.

Strat

Or, alternately, enabling people to set up their own local networks (throw in a dash of encryption, maybe?) when a government shuts down the carriers to aid in suppressing mass political/popular opposition, protests, marches, demonstrations, etc.

It could ultimately be tracked down by the government, but even with no attempts to transmission-wise obscure the source/location (well, lets be real...it would necessarily be on a low-power transmitter, so there's that) it's damned hard, particularly in a dense urban area, to locate a signal from the ground.

There's also the practical matter of logistics for the authorities. There aren't a whole lot of radio tracking & location vans around. The FCC has typically only had one or two in most of the States in the US, with exceptions for the larger States like California where the vast area of the State demands a larger fleet, but still relatively very few for covering a huge area. Michigan for instance had two (one was almost always parked and served as a backup vehicle against mechanical failures/repair) the last I'd heard.

Helicopters would be faster, but there aren't that many so equipped either, even in the military. The military signal tracking capabilities are more focused on weapons systems and target tracking, not domestic small-transmitter rabbit-hunting that doesn't involve something akin to a HARM missile taking out a half-block area. That might go largely unnoticed and be considered by many to be an improvement in large sections of Detroit, but elsewhere it would definitely cause mass anti-government public demonstrations, protests, uprisings, death, and violence.

And, I think we can *all* agree, here...

"Ain't nobody got time for that!"

Strat

I really doubt it is actually meant to blow itself up though.

If they used the right kind of battery it could ;-)

All you'd need to do is build it on a flammable PCB with a nichrome-wire-style electrical ignition element embedded within it, and discharge the (I would assume normally inaccessible without tripping the destruct) battery through it. The destruct could even have it's own built-in and seperate battery

*Poof*, original "Mission Impossible"-style.

"Good morning, Mr. Phelps..."

Sometimes the old tech is the best tech. ;-)

Strat

What was it you called a country where the government and powerful, "connected" private business interests merge?

Ohhh, silly me! *Now* I remember!

A Fascist Oligarchy, of course!

Welcome to the DRNA comrades! (Democratic Republic of North America) The new flag will be a black silhouette of a boot stomping a human face on a blood-red background.

Just wait until they run out of money they can rape from the domestic economy and begin a policy of international aggression to keep their hookers and blow flowing. The world is going to burn.

Strat