Big Brother is Searching your Hard Drive

[Scarecrow38]

The Right to Privacy isn't as solid a right as many people make it out to be. Governments can decide 'for the greater good of society' that it's acceptable to take away one person's privacy for the good of the many.

I don't like the fact that I might be in trouble for my copy of the movie Spaceballs, but I'm just saying Breach of Privacy isn't universal across all jurisdictions.

 

[BubbleGumSnareDrum]

Having nothing to hide will never change the fact that shit like this is a simple and blatant invasion of privacy.

People who do not understand why that's a bad thing really have no appreciation for their rights. Or at least they won't until they realize what's really going on, too little too late of course.

 

[mark0217]

Mirrors Edge situation D:

Squeaky clean utopia with a few anarchists trying to blow stuff up?

 

[BubbleGumSnareDrum]

Squeaky clean utopia with a few anarchists trying to blow stuff up?

More like "unsettlingly sterile dystopia with a handful of people who understand actual freedom... trying to blow stuff up." Hahah.

 

[modestalchemist]

This is part of the Patriot act right? (which i didn't agree to in the first place, and no one even asked me... talk about a complete lack of representation!)

It seems to me that this Act will actually cause patriots to crawl out of the woodwork and start another revolutionary war. This time with a retardedly simple constitution that states, "my right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins"

our government was built with great ideas, but seriously... it's over.

 

[Gitsnik]

God bless living in the UK.... it's not exactly heaven, but atleast the law's not as fucked up as it is in America xD

You need to look into the recent powers of search and abuse your country has granted to your police force my friend.

Look hard, they already have many of these powers.

But the bastards can search my triple true-crypted volumes all they like, I've got nothing to hide and the raid scared the 100character passwords out of me

 

[misty78]

This kind of thing already exists when one is returning to the US... border agents have the right to search your media.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/border-agents-c.html

"The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the government, finding that the so-called border exception to the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches applied not just to suitcases and papers, but also to electronics.

The ruling (.pdf) came in a case where customs agents searched the laptop of Michael Arnold who was returning from the Philippines. They found images they believed to be child pornography, seized the laptop and later arrested him. While the lower court ruling excluded from trial the pictures of young boys the government says it found on the hard drive, they now can be used again."


Another source:

http://techdirt.com/articles/20080107/033235.shtml


How about this source, if wasn't just Obama... it all started with Bush...

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/03/13/235268/obama-makes-copyright-treaty-a-national-secret.htm

For those saying it is an invasion of privacy so it can't happen, I argue that an invasion of privacy has already happened. I don't care that the guy had child porn on his laptop, he should not have been searched.

I believe Benjamin Franklin said it best:

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

 

[Xvito]

Something like that is already happening where I'm from.

Where are you from ?

Sweden, although they're not checking our Hard Drives, only everything we do on the internet...

That totally sucks and is a complete invasion of privacy

i can only think of 2 reasons why they would want to do that

1. Protection of public from dangerous individuals (which is has become more rare)
2. they are paranoid

I think it's a combination of the two. They think that they're protecting us, but in reality they're just paranoid...

 

[Jingles]

I scares me how the government is trying to get an edge on control.....
Banks, housing, automobiles..... and personal computers.
The intersections now have cameras! Even in small rural towns, sigh.

I have nothing to hide, but its my personal stuff and feel violated with this news......


Yes..... Big Brother is watching.
George Orwell had some real insight!!

 

[modestalchemist]

well the government is just going to keep doing anything and everything they want to do to exploit the people. They'll disguise it as something that is good for all of us, like they do, and just turn it against us because they can.

They will continue until the people do something about it.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Won't happen. It's a breach of privacy.

I seem to remember some other piece of legislation that was around for a few years that indicates people are perfectly willing to invade your privacy if you let them. And even when you complain it will still take ages to ever be fixed. And even when it's fixed you're left wondering if they really stopped listening or if they are just doing a better job of keeping it a secret.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Won't happen. It's a breach of privacy.

I seem to remember some other piece of legislation that was around for a few years that indicates people are perfectly willing to invade your privacy if you let them. And even when you complain it will still take ages to ever be fixed. And even when it's fixed you're left wondering if they really stopped listening or if they are just doing a better job of keeping it a secret.

People have tried to pass systems similar to this before. Before and after the Patriot act was introduced.

So no, I don't believe this system will be any more successful this time around.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Won't happen. It's a breach of privacy.

I seem to remember some other piece of legislation that was around for a few years that indicates people are perfectly willing to invade your privacy if you let them. And even when you complain it will still take ages to ever be fixed. And even when it's fixed you're left wondering if they really stopped listening or if they are just doing a better job of keeping it a secret.

People have tried to pass systems similar to this before. Before and after the Patriot act was introduced.

So no, I don't believe this system will be any more successful this time around.

And in the final accounting all we can really do is take their word on it.