* the agencies performing surveillance by and large have good intentions
* surveillance has or will have no practical impact on their lives, because
* they're not doing anything wrong, so they're probably fine, and anyway
* they can't really do anything about it.
As for the first, it reminds me of this Onion article: "Smart, Qualified People Behind The Scenes Keeping America Safe: 'We Don't Exist'"[0]. We have ordinary people, people with flaws and cognitive biases. They're hyper-sensitized to threats, convinced we're all in imminent danger unless we institute mass surveillance For Our Own Good. This is essentially a flawed premise (the road to hell, etc).
The second is more or less correct. It makes no difference in one's daily life.
In the third, I chose the word "wrong" deliberately. Most people incorrectly assume they've not done anything illegal, but most people don't have nefarious plans and therefore assume they've nothing to worry about.
The third is also more or less correct, but it's a flawed premise that you, personally, have to be able to do something about it.
I really think more people should be educated along the lines of "Don't Talk to the Cops"[1]. Even if you have no nefarious plans, the justice system's incentives are all aligned against you; they want convictions, not the truth. The adversarial nature of the system is predicated on you not being thoughtlessly compliant.
* the agencies performing surveillance by and large have good intentions
* surveillance has or will have no practical impact on their lives, because
* they're not doing anything wrong, so they're probably fine, and anyway
* they can't really do anything about it.
As for the first, it reminds me of this Onion article: "Smart, Qualified People Behind The Scenes Keeping America Safe: 'We Don't Exist'"[0]. We have ordinary people, people with flaws and cognitive biases. They're hyper-sensitized to threats, convinced we're all in imminent danger unless we institute mass surveillance For Our Own Good. This is essentially a flawed premise (the road to hell, etc).
The second is more or less correct. It makes no difference in one's daily life.
In the third, I chose the word "wrong" deliberately. Most people incorrectly assume they've not done anything illegal, but most people don't have nefarious plans and therefore assume they've nothing to worry about.
The third is also more or less correct, but it's a flawed premise that you, personally, have to be able to do something about it.
I really think more people should be educated along the lines of "Don't Talk to the Cops"[1]. Even if you have no nefarious plans, the justice system's incentives are all aligned against you; they want convictions, not the truth. The adversarial nature of the system is predicated on you not being thoughtlessly compliant.
[0]: http://www.theonion.com/articles/smart-qualified-people-behi... [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik.
edited: formatting. wish I knew how to do bulleted lists.