From: Zero Powers (zero_powers@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Mar 30 2000 - 11:29:51 MST
>From: "Ross A. Finlayson" <raf@tiki-lounge.com>
>
>Zero Powers wrote:
> > ...
> > So really all I'm asking for is the ability to look back at them. Funny
> > thing is that these guys who would deny me the right to keep an eye on
>my
> > government like that probably think of themselves as libertarians!
> >
> > -Zero
>
>I think libertarians would be against the government having untrammeled
>surveillance, and that it can not be said that they would be for or against
>surveillance of the government, although I think that some would be for it
>as a
>method to keep tabs on those wielding power on behalf of the citizenry.
>
>So, until all police and government officials are monitored, any monitoring
>of
>the citizenry is repressive as it is a means of power control.
Surprise! I *completely* agree. That is why I call for power proportional
transparency. The amount of surveillance you are subject to would be
proportional to the power you have to effect my life.
>So I think that all police officers then public officials should be
>monitored,
>if anybody, and private citizens should not be monitored.
This presumes that the *only* threat to security is the threat from the
state. Oklahoma City was not blown up by the state. The Unabomber was not
working for the state. Yes, the state poses a potential threat, but it is
by no means the *only* potential threat.
>I have addressed this post of Zero because he addresssed a term that I
>used,
>libertarian, also, I wanted to clarify some things I had written. Here's
>something funny, if suddenly today we had transparency to all citizens and
>a
>huge supercomputer correlated everyone, then marijuana, etc. use would
>probably
>be seen as quite higher than it is deemed.
In fact it would immediately become public knowledge that the majority of
adults have at least experimented with it, and that a significant percentage
still use it from time to time. Which would logically spur debate as to the
relative dangers of weed, tobacco and alcohol, which would probably lead to
legalization.
-Zero
"I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past"
--Thomas Jefferson
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