Trust me: Political Spying + Computers = Big Brother

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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/06/19-0



I know the issue of political spying – and not just because my lawful, nonviolent activism got me spied on by local, state and federal “intelligence” agencies (whose spy files on me were unearthed through successful lawsuits and partly successful Freedom of Information requests). I also spent a dozen years as a journalist, researcher and ACLU lawyer investigating the spies.

There are four basic truths of political spying worth remembering in light of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s disclosures about phone record and Internet surveillance. These truths were obvious before computerized spying – e.g. when the FBI’s massive 1960s spy program led to harassment and violence against civil rights and antiwar activists – and are more obvious, and perhaps more dangerous, now that digitized information on millions of us can be so easily vacuumed up.

False “facts” and assumptions CIRCULATE WILDLY.

Political spying RARELY STAYS ON TARGET; they tend to wander.

Political “intelligence” is often the OPPOSITE OF ACTUAL INTELLIGENCE.

Big Brother has flourished under BOTH PARTIES.