Steve Wozniak speaks out against NSA spying: this is not my America

Looks like some people are flagging this. It just dropped from 1st place to 10th, even though it has 72 points in 40 minutes.<p>To those who think the NSA stories shouldn&#x27;t be brought back up towards the top of HN until this mess is sorted (for months if it needs to be), for those who think the future of our world is not more important than some change of license on MySQL documentation, I hope you lose your flag privileges, you traitors.<p>If we can&#x27;t focus on an important story for a few months, we deserve all the crap we&#x27;re gonna get.

At a fundamental level the questions we have to answer are:<p><pre><code> What does it mean to be free? What is the proper role of government in that context? What do we allow government to do in that context? What are their limits? </code></pre> This, in a way, is what I feel is lost.<p>As a simple example: Why is it that a total stranger (TSA) can touch every part of your body and even have you strip searched just because you are travelling? Why is it that I, as a parent, can&#x27;t tell that person to keep his&#x2F;her hands off my little girl? What happened to the presumption of innocence?<p>At any US airport you are presumed guilty and have to demonstrate your innocence by being subject to search and seizure (swiss army knives, shampoo, etc. taken away --your property).<p>This TSA problem is an analog of the surveiilance problem. The vast majority of the people logging 1.6 billion person-trips per year [1] are not terrorists. Yet, 100% of them are presumed guilty and subject to search and seizure. And we allow it.<p>Now we have a situation where 100% of Americans are presumed to be potential terrorists in the future [2]. Based on that We now justify logging and tracking your every move and every communication.<p>Steve Wozniac is right, this is what we were told others did to their population, not us. We were above that, better than that. Right.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ustravel.org&#x2F;sites&#x2F;default&#x2F;files&#x2F;page&#x2F;2009&#x2F;11&#x2F;US_Travel_Answer_Sheet_March_2013.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ustravel.org&#x2F;sites&#x2F;default&#x2F;files&#x2F;page&#x2F;2009&#x2F;11&#x2F;US_...</a><p>[2] Senator Dianne Feinstein explained that we need this data in case someone becomes a terrorist in the future

He makes some solid points. To return to the America he remembers, we need to repeal the Patriot Act.

There is a technology solution to the crisis of trust caused by the NSA revelations: Internet services could start offering secure email and communications.<p>Yet not a peep about that.

I want to hear Steve Wozniak on a podcast or tv show, he is such a smart dude.

He&#x27;s one of the gentlest people I know. If Woz is up in arms, something is really going on.

My stomach churns at many of the outrageous over reaches of the US Government: secret kill lists; secret criteria to get on secret kill lists; indefinite detention without due process; warrantless wiretapping; warrantless collection of all electronic communication; illegal wars (perhaps the most debatable, but I would go toe to toe with anyone in a real discussion on this vis-a-vis the UN Charter)<p>I agree it is our duty to speak up, be heard and demand better of our government; however, my stomach churns equally at the notion of people thinking they grew up in a country so much different than it is today. It does not matter how far you go back there have always been these kinds of governmental abuses: the genocide of Native Americans; slavery; indefinite detention of Japanese in internment camps; apartheid (separate but equal&#x2F;Jim Crow Laws); covert wars (support the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan; Nicaraguan contras; installing the Cuban Batista regime; installing Saddam and the Ba&#x27;ath party); illegal wars: Vietnam (again debatable); war time atrocities (May Lai Massacre); torture (during Vietnam US military had interrogation handbooks that directed stipping POW&#x27;s naked in the forest and covering their orifices with honey and allowing flys and bugs to swarm); Watergate (manipulated elections); CIA infiltrating organizations such as the ACLU.<p>We can not blindly look at our current state of affairs and yearn to be what we once were, because we were never anything different, it is far more important to look toward history and not allow the same mistakes to continually be repeated. I think one of the most important things to take away from Wozniak&#x27;s words is how the dialogue has changed and we will not blindly fall in line to the tune of patriotic propaganda but ordinary citizenry will stand up and be the true check on the government that was always intended. When I look at the US Constitution I see two things, rights and powers, and I must say I feel a lot more comfortable when the balance is greatly in favor of rights over powers. Allow me to end with one of my favorite political quotes, “Every generation needs a new revolution.” Thomas Jefferson (Note, I believe revolutions can be accomplished through non-violent means)