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by PaulHoule 4398 days ago
That last bit is the unusual thing. In real life you meet a lot of people who think Snowden should go to hell, but in Hacker News you are beyond the pale if you think that NSA surveillance is less important than say, homelessness, global warming, the drug war, etc.
2 comments
DanBC 4398 days ago
People seem to get really angry if you suggest that NSA surveillance is less important than Facebook/Google/etc privacy violation, even though very many people have experienced negative consequences of Facebook/Google/etc privacy violations.
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randallsquared 4398 days ago
I think that there's a widespread sense (which I intuitively share) that Facebook/Google/etc only get information about us because we or someone we know freely give it to them. NSA surveillance is different in at least two ways: first, we don't voluntarily give them the information, which makes their use of that information inherently antagonistic towards us (hence the fourth amendment to the US Constitution); and second (for Americans), there's an understanding that the NSA was specifically instructed by Congress to not spy domestically (presumably due to that fourth amendment thing, again).
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DanBC 4396 days ago
I agree that spying on your citizens should be illegal and any organisations doing it should stop.

But then GCHQ has a big bunch of data that they rarely access under (we're told) strict controls. So, I'm less bothered by the gathering of that data than other people. I would be angry if GCHQ started grepping it for stuff that isn't nationally important.

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Loughla 4398 days ago
That's true, and I've never really understood it. Most people get worked up because the NSA is accessing gigantic data-warehouses; they're not upset that these warehouses exist in the first place, or even question the original purpose of the collections.

I genuinely don't understand that.

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Ihmahr 4398 days ago
I think that is your [country you reside in] or social circle perspective. In my country and social circle, suggesting that would simply be outrages, like saying gay people shouldn't be able to get married. I live in the netherlands.
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