What surveillance really is, at its root, is a highly effective form of social control

[limpyhobbler]

What surveillance really is, at its root, is a highly effective form of social control. The knowledge of always being watched changes our behavior and stifles dissent. The inability to associate secretly means there is no longer any possibility for free association. The inability to whisper means there is no longer any speech that is truly free of coercion, real or implied. Most profoundly, pervasive surveillance threatens to eliminate the most vital element of both democracy and social movements: the mental space for people to form dissenting and unpopular views.

Many commentators, and Edward Snowden himself, have noted that these surveillance programs represent an existential threat to democracy. This understates the problem. The universal surveillance programs in place now are not simply a potential threat, they are certain to destroy democracy if left unchecked. Democracy, even the shadow of democracy we currently practice, rests on the bedrock foundation of free association, free speech, and dissent. The consequence of the coercive power of surveillance is to subvert this foundation and undermine everything democracy rests on.

Within social movements, there is a temptation to say that nothing is really different. After all, governments have always targeted activist groups with surveillance and disruption, especially the successful ones.

But this new surveillance is different. What the US government and European allies have built is an infrastructure for perfect social control. By automating the process of surveillance, they have created the ability to effortlessly peer into the lives of everyone, all the time, and thus create a system with unprecedented potential for controlling how we behave and think.

True, this infrastructure is not currently used in this way, but it is a technical tool-kit that can easily be used for totalitarian ends.

Those who imagine a government can be trusted to police itself when given the ominous power of precise insight into the inner workings of everyday life are betting the future on the ability of a secretive government to show proper self-restraint in the use of their ever-expanding power. If history has shown us anything, it is that the powerful will always use their full power unless they are forced to stop.
...

https://help.riseup.net/en/newsletter-2013-8#space-for-dissent

[snot]

1. K&R'd!!!

Combine this with their ever-expanding understanding of how to manipulate us without our awareness, and the possibilities are dire beyond description.

[Pholus]

6. That is a very important point that can't be stressed enough...

they are actively seeking to manipulate. Cass Sunstein's paper wasn't the only one on the topic, just the smarmiest.

[Pholus]

2. Absolutely. And those "nothing to hide" people are simply clueless about this.

The point is that everybody breaks the law if you use a powerful enough microscope.

Strangely, our "betters" in government and the 1% seem to highly prize THEIR privacy even while moving to strip ours away.

[MNBrewer]

4. When nothing CAN be hidden, "nothing to hide" rings kind of hollow.

[Pholus]

5. You can hide stuff by not using networked electronics.

But in the brave new world, that lack of openness will eventually make you suspicious as well.

[Chemisse]

3. Information is power

The government now has unprecedented power over our lives.

If history has shown us anything, it is that the powerful will always use their full power unless they are forced to stop.