10
Reasons Why Nothing You Do On The Internet Will EVER
Be Private Again
http://endoftheamericandream.com
http://albertpeia.com/10reasonsnothingoninternetprivate.htm
The Internet is rapidly
being transformed into a Big Brother control grid where privacy rights are
being systematically strangled to death. The control freaks that run
things have become absolutely obsessed with watching, tracking, monitoring and
recording virtually everything that you do on the Internet. One thing
that you can count on is that nothing you do on the Internet will ever be private
again. In fact, if you are obsessed with privacy then the last place you
want to be is on the Internet. Most Americans have absolutely no idea how
far Internet surveillance has advanced in the past few years. At this
point, it would be hard to imagine any place less private than the
Internet. Do not ever put anything on the Internet that you would not
want the authorities or your employer to hold you accountable for.
Basically, the Internet is creating a permanent dossier on each one of us, and
we contribute to this process by freely posting gigantic volumes of information
about ourselves on social media websites such as Facebook
and Twitter. The Internet is the greatest tool for mass communication
that the world has perhaps ever seen, and it gives average citizens the ability
to communicate with each other like never before, but there is also a downside
to using the Internet. Everything that we do on the Internet is being
watched, monitored and recorded and there is no longer any such thing as
Internet privacy. If you think that you still have any privacy on the
Internet, then you are either ignorant of what is
going on or you are being delusional.
The following are 10 reasons why
nothing you do on the Internet will ever be private again....
#1 The Federal
Government Can Now Retain Your Internet Activity For Five Years - Even If You
Have No Links To Terrorism
In the past, the
Well, that has now completely
changed.
Attorney General Eric Holder has
signed new guidelines which will now allow the
But an extra four and a half extra
years is no big deal, right?
#2 Potential Employers
Are Demanding To See Your Internet Activity
In the past, potential employers
would pull up the social media profiles of job candidates in order to get a
better idea of who they might be hiring.
But now, many potential employers are
actually demanding the passwords to the Facebook accounts of job applicants.
The following comes from a recent CBS News report....
The
bad news is that employers are increasingly asking job seekers for their Facebook and other social-media passwords as part of
the process of vetting them.
While
it's unclear how widespread that practice is, there's plenty of anecdotal
evidence to suggest that it is happening with increasing frequency, as CBS MoneyWatch's Suzanne Lucas details. You can, of course,
refuse to give a job interviewer your passwords. But expect your employment
application to hit the round file, or the trash, if you don't cooperate.
#3
Law Enforcement
Is Watching You
Do you remember the father that
posted that "Facebook Parenting for the troubled teen" video
that went wildly viral all over the Internet earlier this year?
That video was watched more than 31
million times, but it also resulted in both the
police and Child Protective Services officials visiting his home.
So be careful what you post on
YouTube. If you post something that they don't like, law enforcement
personnel may come knocking on your door.
#4 Government Agencies
Are Watching You
The FBI, the CIA, the Department of
Homeland Security, the
These agencies have lists of
"keywords" that they use to search for posts that they want to look
at.
For example, the words
"attack", "exercise" and "epidemic" are just
three of the keywords that the Department of Homeland Security is known to use.
So keep that in mind the next time
you post something on Facebook or Twitter.
The following is from a recent Salon article....
In
2010, the
#5 Barack Obama Is
Watching You
The Obama campaign has launched
"truth teams" which will be
scouring the Internet for any rumors that are "not true" about Barack
Obama during the 2012 presidential campaign.
So if you post something on the
Internet about Barack Obama that the Obama campaign does not consider to be
truthful, there is a good chance that a "truth team" will be
examining what you have written.
#6 They Are Monitoring And Recording All Talk Radio (Including Internet Talk Radio)
As I have written about previously, the FBI has hired a company in
If
you call a radio talk show and get on the air, you might be recorded by the
FBI.
The
FBI has awarded a $524,927 contract to a
The
FBI says it is not playing big brother by policing the airwaves, but rather
seeking access to what airs as potential evidence.
#7 Foreign Governments
Are Watching You
It isn't just the
In fact, the level of Internet
surveillance in some countries is arguably even greater than it is in the
For example, a new bill that has been
introduced in Canada would give government
authorities unprecedented power to monitor the Internet activities of
Canadians....
The
so-called “lawful access” legislation, tabled in the House of Commons Tuesday,
will require Internet service providers and cellphone
companies to hand over basic customer information — including name, address,
phone number, email address, and ISP addresses — to authorities when requested,
without the need for a warrant.
Dubbed
“online spying” by critics, the bill is also expected to require ISPs and phone
companies to install equipment for real-time surveillance and create new police
powers designed to obtain access to the surveillance data.
The
The
Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit does limited but valuable work in
challenging internet service providers to remove violent extremist material
where it contravenes the law. We suggest that the Government work with internet
service providers in the UK to develop a Code of Conduct committing them to
removing violent extremist material, as defined for the purposes of section 3
of the Terrorism Act 2006. Many relevant websites are hosted abroad: the
Government should also therefore strive towards greater international
cooperation to tackle this issue.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is taking things even farther than that. He
recently stated that anyone in
So what constitutes "extremist
material" and what constitutes "preaching hatred"?
Unfortunately, almost every
government on earth has different definitions for those things.
#8 We Are All Being
Encouraged To Spy On One Another On The Internet
For the
The Department of Homeland Security
has been heavily promoting the "See Something, Say Something" campaign. The idea is that if you
see something "suspicious" that you should report it to the
authorities.
Unfortunately, the definition of
"suspicious activity" has expanded so
dramatically in recent years that it could include just about anything.
The paranoia among our leaders has
gotten completely out of control. For example, a while back U.S. Senator
Joe Lieberman requested that Google install a "terrorist button" on all
Blogger.com blogs so that readers could easily flag "terrorist
content" for authorities.
Thankfully nothing like that has been
implemented yet, but that is the direction that we are heading as a nation.
#9 Your ISP Is Watching
You
Most Americans have not even heard
about this yet, but the truth is that starting later on this year your ISP will
be spying on you to make sure that you are not downloading any copyrighted
material.
SOPA and PIPA may have failed for
now, but the Obama administration has brokered a deal between the entertainment
industry and the major Internet providers that is absolutely unprecedented.
This deal will go into effect on July 12th. The following is from a
recent Raw Story article....
If
you download potentially copyrighted software, videos or music, your Internet
service provider (ISP) has been watching, and they’re coming for you.
Specifically,
they’re coming for you on Thursday, July 12.
That’s
the date when the nation’s largest ISPs will all voluntarily implement a new
anti-piracy plan that will engage network operators in the largest digital
spying scheme in history, and see some users’ bandwidth completely cut off
until they sign an agreement saying they will not download copyrighted
materials.
Word
of the start date has been largely kept secret since ISPs announced their plans
last June. The deal was brokered by the Recording Industry Association of
So be careful what you download on
the Internet.
Your ISP will be watching.
#10 The
NSA Is Watching Everyone And Everything
It is safe to assume that any digital
communication that you ever make will be intercepted and monitored by the NSA.
Of course this has been an open
secret for years, but now the NSA is taking things to a whole new level.
The NSA has been constructing the
largest spy center in the history of the world out in the
Under
construction by contractors with top-secret clearances, the blandly named
So please do not assume that anything
you do on the Internet will ever be private again.
The online world has now become a
world where there is absolutely no privacy.
Some are responding to this new
reality by running away from the Internet, but I think that is the wrong
approach.
The Internet has broken the monopoly
that the elite had on mass communication. It has given average people the
ability to communicate with one another like never before. A YouTube
video or a blog post that you put up today could be seen by tens of millions of
people. Information is power, and the Internet has put a tremendous
amount of power into the hands of the general population.
Yes, there will be people watching
every single thing you do on the Internet. So it is important to be very
careful.
But the Internet also gives us an
opportunity to impact the world that is unlike anything previous generations
have ever had. Something that you post on the Internet today could end up
completely changing a life on the other side of the globe tomorrow. Those
in power have begun to recognize how powerful the Internet is, and so they have
begun to crack down on it.
It is also important to keep in mind
that the Internet allows us to
watch them as well. The Internet is an incredible tool
for exposing evil and corruption, and over the past decade we have seen many
instances when average people on the Internet have broken major news stories
that the mainstream media would not dare touch initially.
In the final analysis, the ability to
wake people up and to literally change the world outweighs the risks of being
watched. If the world eventually descends into deep tyranny, you aren't
going to have anywhere to hide even if you are not on the Internet.
Don't be afraid to stand up for the
truth. It is better to do what is right and to be persecuted for it than
to stand aside and do nothing.
The Internet is an awesome
tool. It can be used for great good or for great evil.
If we sit on our hands, we will
accomplish nothing.
But if we try, we might just end up
changing the world.
