"DHS will monitor more U.S. citizens on the Internet..."

[aqvilifer]

We're on the fast tract to becoming like the world of Nineteen Eighty-four. It's quite scary.

The internet is being regulated by people who don't understand it. My country, yes. My government, no.

I have to agree, and it's not just in relation to the economy.
The world in 1984 was in a constant state of war, due to no nation(s) being able to overtake another.

People worry about war all the time, and while I think that war may indeed happen, I don't believe that any non third world country has a damn thing to worry about.

[tremor77]

The solution is for groups like ourselves, to get involved and sponsor/support candidates and legislation to the right ends... As it now stands, at least in the US, governance is still 'by and of' the people. Only when we find ourselves apathetic and leave the course of the machine to it's own ends, will the 1984 scenario play out. Already we've won some recent large victories... for the time being the attack on net neutrality has been thwarted.... expect to see that routinely return though. Don't place the blame squarely on governments either... you must look to corporate entities which have found themselves with historically unsurpassed powers on an international level... *cough* google *cough*. Once again, remember it is within our power to keep them in check... through the power of the boycott and the alternative. In fact since the net neutrality debacle I've begun to use http://quintura.com/. Check it out.

[insomaniacal]

Indeed, Tremor brings about a good point. Large corporations have far more sway on government than they ought.

A few weeks back there was an article on Slashdot that talked about how a huge percentage of laws are written by lobbyists.

[G0dl355_Pr0ph37]

The government and the corporations that hold sway over the government need to be revised dramatically. I want to be protected, but I don't want to give up privacy. In New York, there are probally 2 terroists, if any. The population of New York is a little more than 19,500,000. That means that for every 9,750,000 people there is, at most, 1 terroist. So the chances of finding a terrorist is 1.02(10^-7)% when rounded to 2 significant didgits. That is so small that, if not in scientific notation, if rounded, the chances would be 0%. Also, anyone who talks about illegal activities over the internet needs to be in special ed.

[tremor77]

I think most people vastly overstate and overestimate the government's ability to actually monitor citizens.

Our military and civilian intelligence services can't even properly coordinate a flow of data between each other to find one 6'6" Santa bearded muthafucka with a turban... but a Rolling Stone reporter was able to get a personal interview with OBL.

4srsly... check the paranoia level it's totally unwarranted. If you want to be concerned about who is spying on you, look at me and the type of company I currently work for. Advertisers. Because we truly data mine, drop cookies and adware, coordinate data through spam, surveys, sales reports, newsletter signups... I currently have at my fingertips access to the names and more personal information than anyone should know, to about 75% of the population of the city I work in. Looking in my database right now I've randomly picked a woman, age 24, earns between 30-50k per year, identifies as white, unmarried/single, 1 child, rents apt instead of owning, been at this address for 3 years, some college no degree, I have a slew of survey questions, oh and a facebook profile.. she's kinda cute, enough to excuse the having 1 kid bit...

[Vulpine]

she's kinda cute, enough to excuse the having 1 kid bit...

Lies.

1 child

Deal breaker.

[tremor77]

she's kinda cute, enough to excuse the having 1 kid bit...

Lies.

1 child

Deal breaker.

I'm married with one on the way... exceptions can be made.