Xah Lee's Unixism

[Chuck Dillon]

John Thingstad wrote:
> On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 15:36:29 -0700, Alan Balmer <albalmer at att.net> wrote:
> 
>>
>> BTW, did you mean "extortion"? Distortion is what we see a lot of
>> here, though Hoover may have done some of that too.
>>
> 
> I guess what I see are endless possibilities of abuse.
> No government can be trusted with that type of power.
> I feel it is our responsibility as programmers to prevent this type
> of abuse of information. 

IMHO, it is unrealistic/naive to expect society to get all of the 
benefits of an integrated digital world and at the same time have 
significant protection of the information that world thrives upon.

Everybody and their uncle is walking around in public having "private" 
conversations on their wireless gadget without realizing that privacy 
doesn't apply to what they are doing.  The data systems are really no 
different, the risk is just less obvious.

> I'd rather take my chances with the terrorists.

And at the same time groups like the 9/11 families are clamoring for 
answers as to why the government didn't prevent the attack.  If you 
believe what you say I suggest you work to wean your fellow citizens 
from their government centric lives.

> When you sell out freedom, liberty and justice then what exactly are we  
> fighting to protect?
> Bader-Meihof groups philosophy was that in order to protect the public  
> from terror
> the government would turn the country into a police state. Then the 
> people  would rebel and
> support the revolution. From this point of view Bush is letting the  
> terrorist's win by
> sacrificing our constitutional rights.

Your argument is shallow if you direct it to the person who happens to 
be holding the office of President at the moment.  The President can't 
introduce or pass law.  The Patriot Act is a nearly bipartisan law of 
the land passed by the congress.  If you have a problem with the 
government then address the government realistically.  Otherwise it's 
just part of the political noise of an election year.

-- ced


-- 
Chuck Dillon
Senior Software Engineer
NimbleGen Systems Inc.