The Queens of Stalingrad - 4

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall"

In this series Dredd Blog has been pointing the utter absurdity of what Daniel Ellesburg calls The United Stasi of America.

The internet business community is nervous that world Internet traffic will somehow move from U.S. locations to somewhere else in rebellion to the military NSA operating in the United States as the East German Stasi once did (Guardian).

The Russian Communists stopped it under Gorbachev, so why can't the wannabe American Communists stop lying to congress and everyone else and do it too?

How true these warnings were and are:

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." - James Madison
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“Experience has shown that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson
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"Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people." - Thomas Jefferson

The following is an open letter to those who now support or tend to fascist/communist forms of government in the U.S.:

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An open letter to Washington

Dear Mr. President and Members of Congress,

We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens. But this summer’s revelations highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide. The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual — rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for a change.

For our part, we are focused on keeping users’ data secure — deploying the latest encryption technology to prevent unauthorized surveillance on our networks and by pushing back on government requests to ensure that they are legal and reasonable in scope.

We urge the US to take the lead and make reforms that ensure that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent and subject to independent oversight. To see the full set of principles we support, visit ReformGovernmentSurveillance.com

Sincerely,

AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo

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The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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A talk from the Festival of Dangerous Ideas:

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