TQ: Privacy and National Security

This week's TQ from Mark is on privacy. Feel free to respond below.

1.To what extent do you believe our govt is eavesdropping on you?

I think they probably intercept some, though not all, of my electronic correspondence. I doubt any of it has been looked at by a live person, however.

2.Do you think the govt has gone too far in the name of national security?

Yes. Though I have not experienced any problems due to PATRIOT Act issues, I would assert it provides far too much freedom for the government. Wiretaps should be used only when shown to be necessary before a judge and detentions should be impossible without pressing charges.

3.Have you taken any steps to protect your privacy?

In general, I try to keep my data secure, but not out of concern that the Feds will come looking for my information. I just don't want script kiddies breaking in. I don't encrypt e-mail or anything like that.

4.Comment on this picture.

I think it relays what many think less privacy will accomplish. Realistically, I don't have a lot of faith that our national security reforms are actually going to work to improve security. Especially with the amount of illegal immigration — if that many people can sneak into the country, how are we going to stop a few terrorists?

5.3.Will personal privacy ever be restored, or will things continue to decay?

As technology advances, it will become increasingly easy to create a police state. While I'm not entirely pessimistic about the future, I do expect that we will have less privacy in the future than the past.

Note: The questions on this page written by Mark are governed by the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 license. I believe my responses are allowed under fair use and therefore are not licensed under the Creative Commons license (I don't want people messing with adapting my personal opinions, thank you very much).