Just like the Bradley Manning document dump was old news to anyone who bothered to follow the news closely since 2003, the latest Ed Snowden PRISM whistle-blowing exercise shouldn’t come as any surprise for the same reasons.
Yes, the Snowden leak story is important, but it’s hardly anything new.
Why Snowden, why now? None of this raised that many eyebrows before, so why now? One could easily compile a series of large book just based on reports of NSA, Patriot Act and FISA over-reach since 2001, enough to be sure that this latest big ‘scoop’ by the mainstream media shouldn’t even cause you to blink.
Here’s the point: NSA privacy invasions may be “unacceptable”, but the fact is – just like torture, indefinite detention and aggressive war-making – they’re practically legal in today’s America – thanks to all the dirty laws and executive orders Barack Obama said once upon a time he would repeal but hasn’t. For that reason, this whole Snowden affair makes good news, but back at home it has no teeth to rip open the seams of change – just as Bradley Manning’s plight changed nothing at all. Business as usual.
This reality should mitigate the significance of the Snowden story, and should also prompt questions about this media fire storm being a controlled story – acting as a sort of pressure valve release for the powers stealing away your privacy behind the scenes.
Also, the timing of this being framed as a potential diplomatic stand-off with China couldn’t be more suspect either.
What’s more, the gravitas of this latest cloak and dagger drama out of Hong Kong has certainly pushed the issue out in public again – which is a good thing in many ways, but it also distracts the public from some of the more dirtier aspects of the digital dragnet in America today…
For starters, the provisions by Obama’s White House includes to gathering or seizing of digital data and records across all international borders with countries who have signed up to give away private information at the request of Washington – often using ‘diplomatic’ coercion and intimidation to get it. That is a major achievement for any group keen on consolidating a global police state – the framework is now in place.
Secondly, for quite some time now, the NSA has been giving away, trading, or perhaps selling our records to corporate giants – and most Americans had no idea it was happening. The same is true for the reverse, where mega corps hand your data to the NSA. Google happens to be one of the biggest gov’t clients and offenders in this cesspit of data exchange carried out behind closed doors. Who says lobby money and contributions doesn’t buy much these days?
Both gov’t and mega corps have grown too large and have achieved digital monopolies like never before. The only solution left is a sort of anti-trust move – perhaps to strip these behemoths down, and decentralise their power and influence because as we all can see now – they are above morals and the law.
This level of collusion between the government and corporations is naked fascism on its face. What a racket. That’s where America is at today…
–
